


A Friendly Competition

by Toward_The_Horizon



Series: Bets, Wagers and other Extortions [3]
Category: K-pop, ONF (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bets & Wagers, Chatting & Messaging, Love Triangles, Polyamory, because minkyun, kpop, theres a lot of cats in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:38:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 36,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24840181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toward_The_Horizon/pseuds/Toward_The_Horizon
Summary: “What d’you think, Jae, is it going to be too hard for Seungjoon? Should he just give up now and accept defeat?”Seungjoon scoffs. “You really think you’ve got more of a chance than I do?”“I really do.”The cafe boy is still crouching by the car, his friend standing patiently behind him, holding the plastic tub in one hand. He looks over as if sensing Seungjoon’s eyes on him, and Seungjoon offers a friendly smile, looking away quickly as if their eyes had met purely by coincidence. From the corner of his eye, at the same time as he’s conscious of Hyojin’s smirk before him, Seungjoon can just make out the cafe boy’s friend hitting him jovially on the shoulder before he wanders back into the building, leaving the caramel-haired boy on the sidewalk with the tub of candies.Seungjoon trunks back to the table. Hyojin raises a brow as their eyes meet. Seungjoon smiles. “You’re on.”OR, in which Hyojin somehow coerces Seungjoon into a competition over who can win over a complete stranger they happen to see outside a cafe, leading to a ridiculous game over who can win his favour first and prove once and for all that they've got the most game.
Relationships: Kim Hyojin/Lee Seungjoon | J-Us, Kim Hyojin/Park Minkyun | MK, Lee Seungjoon | J-Us/Park Minkyun | MK
Series: Bets, Wagers and other Extortions [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781821
Comments: 18
Kudos: 69





	1. Stranger Danger

Hyojin turns back to look at him with a frown. “Dude, that’s _so_ gay.”

Jaeyoung giggles into his coffee, ducking his head, as Seungjoon’s self-pitying expression turns into one of shock.

They’re sat by one of their favourite places beside campus, a little cafe with white metal tables and chairs outside, the sun high in the sky and hot against their skin. 

“I was asking a guy for his number,” Seungjoon says, his voice incredulous. “I am, if you hadn’t noticed, _also a guy._ How could that not be gay? _”_

Hyojin, across the table, turns away again, his back to Seungjoon, his chair facing away from their table. “You _seriously_ have no game whatsoever.”

“You think you can do better?”

“I _know_ I can do better.”

Jaeyoung, between them at their little round table, gives a muffled groan as he covers his face with one hand. “Please, not this again.”

“We’d stop asking if you actually give us an answer,” Seungjoon protests.

Hyojin nods, the sun catching the dark hair curling over his forehead. The bottom half had recently been bleached a startling, snowy white. “It’s not as if it’s a difficult question.”

“Which one of you is the more attractive,” Wyatt recounts, sighing already.

“Yeah,” Hyojin nods. “You either think it’s me or you need glasses, Jae, it’s not that difficult.”

“OK, you’re older _and_ shorter than me,” seungjoon says, putting a finger down for each thing he lists. “What could you possibly have on me?”

“A disposable income?” Hyojin offers. “Who wants to date college kids anyway?”

“Other college kids. And anyone else with sense, if that ‘college kid’ just happens to be me. Put him out of his misery Jaeyoung, come on. Fess up.”

“I’m younger and taller than both of you-”

Hyojin waves a hand through the air. “This isn’t about you, hetero, come on.”

Jaeyoung shakes his head. “I really don’t think there’s much competition.”

Hyojin huffs and turns around, his chair still facing away from them, his arms snaking around the back of it. “We’re not asking if we’re good looking, Jae, which is _more-_ ”

“Neither of you are really my type.”

Both of them laugh, Hyojin throwing his head back, Seungjoon slapping his own leg, just managing to stop himself from clapping as he laughs when he realises the cafe is too quiet for that kind of reaction.

“Thank fucking _God_ ,” Hyojin chuckles.

“Yeah we mean more to _other_ people,” Seungjoon agrees. Jaeyoung supposes he should be happy for these few moments where they’re on the same side and not bickering, but he sulks anyway, as they giggle at him.

“Other people, you know, like the ones we haven’t saw drunkenly screlt ‘defying gravity’ in a college dive.”

“Or krump to destiny’s child-”

“OK, I get it, you can stop listing examples.”

jaeyoung squeezes his eyes shut as if he can still feel the hangover headache he’d had the day after the legendary night they refuse to stop bringing into conversation. He can’t actually remember the karaoke part, just the pain and the embarrassment that had followed.

A group of college kids pass them, laughing, the sound for a moment melding together with Seungjoon’s nostalgic chuckles, and all three boys at the table watch the group walk by their table, one of the girls pushing the door to the cafe open and leading the rest of them inside.

“Strangers,” Hyojin says, speaking the word like it’s some great opportunity, like a secret he’s sharing with the two of them. “Which one of us has a better chance with strangers?”

“Chance like making friends or-”

Seungjoon scoffs. “Yeah, sure, making friends, that’s what Hyojin’s talking about.”

“Like getting numbers, jaeyoung,” Hyojin clarifies, leaning across the back of the chair he’s straddling. “Like who’s got the most game.”

Jaeyoung looks between the two of them, Hyojin’s excited smile and Seungjoon’s laid back smirk, thinking. “I don’t know. Both of you are pretty intense.”

“He’s never going to answer,” Seungjoon sighs.

“Of course I’m not! Neither of you would ever stop talking about it!”

The chime above the cafe door sounds, and they all look towards it instinctively, drawn to the sound. It’s two boys from the group that had just entered, having shed their backpacks, no longer carrying textbooks. One of them, with ruffled caramel-coloured hair and an oversized pink sweater, is carrying a tub of what looks like candy, smiling the widest smile any of them had ever seen and pulling a shorter boy behind him.

Hyojin turns back to the table and laughs, a breathy, surprised sound.

“You were checking that guy out,” he says.

Seungjoon freezes under both of his friend’s gazes. “Wha-I wasn’t.”

Dangerously, Hyojin’s smile grows into a sly grin. “Yes you were.”

“I was not!”

“You just looked at him again!”

Seungjoon curses loudly in his head. He hadn’t meant to, he just wanted to know where he was going, but the boy had been closer to their table than he’d expected, crouched beside one of the cars pulled up at the side of the cafe.

“How about it, Seungie? You think you stand more of a chance than I do?”

Jaeyoung’s brows shoot up to his hairline. “With that random guy?” he stage-whispers, covering his mouth with his hand as if worried the other boys might hear their conversation. 

Hyojin pushes Jaeyoung’s hand down, rolling his eyes.

“What d’you think, Jae, is it going to be too hard for Seungjoon? Should he just give up now and accept defeat?”

Seungjoon scoffs. “You really think you’ve got more of a chance than I do?”

“I _really_ do.”

The cafe boy is still crouching by the car, his friend standing patiently behind him, holding the plastic tub in one hand. He looks over as if sensing Seungjoon’s eyes on him, and Seungjoon offers a friendly smile, looking away quickly as if their eyes had met purely by coincidence. From the corner of his eye, at the same time as he’s conscious of Hyojin’s smirk before him, Seungjoon can just make out the cafe boy’s friend hitting him jovially on the shoulder before he wanders back into the building, leaving the caramel-haired boy on the sidewalk with the tub of candies.

Seungjoon turns back to the table. Hyojin raises a brow as their eyes meet. Seungjoon smiles. “You’re on.”

Both of them move in unison, leaving a flustered and confused Jaeyoung at their table alone, their chairs scraping the cobblestones as they stand. Hyojin skips over to the boy crouching by the cars, and Seungjoon ambles more slowly, letting a small smile play at his lips, just barely there. 

Hyojin clasps both hands behind his back as they get to the line of cars by the sidewalk and stop.

“What’re you up to?” he asks, and the boy from the cafe startles.

He looks up at them, Hyojin just behind him and Seungjoon a pace away, trying not to crowd him. They’re both smiling, and it takes only a moment of hesitation before the wide grin they’d noticed on him as he’d left the cafe resurfaces, though this time it’s less sure, less certain of itself.

“There’s a cat,” the caramel-haired boy says, pointing under the car, though the sidewalk blocks the view from their angle. He grabs the plastic tub and holds it out for them to see, giving it a shake. “I feed strays. Make sure they don’t get hurt.” He shakes the tub and the things inside rattle around noisily- Seungjoon is close enough now to see what he thought were candies is actually cat food.

Hyojin makes a surprised sound at the back of his throat that must be partially genuine. “I love cats,” he says, crouching just as the other boy is doing, so he can peer under the car.

The boy brightens. “You do?” 

Seungjoon answers before Hyojin gets the chance. “Both of us do.”

He squats, his knees not touching the asphalt like the other boys’. “I’m Seungjoon,” he says, trying to add extra warmth to his words, making sure to smile. “And this is Hyojin.”

Hyojin smiles at him when he clamps a hand on his shoulder, but he must know it’s just Seungjoon making sure to make the first introductions, to make sure he speaks more, so he’s more memorable.

“Minkyun,” the boy offers with a grin. He flattens himself onto the sidewalk, a feathered toy in one hand that he squeezes through the gap between the sidewalk and the underside of the car.

This won’t do. He’s too distracted to pay them any attention- he’s far more interested in the cat than either of them.

Seungjoon carefully reaches into the tub and grabs a handful of treats, trying to do it silently in case Minkyun notices and asks him not to. They’re intruding, but maybe if he helps out enough, Minkyun won’t mind.

He rounds the front of the car, dropping onto the road instead of the sidewalk, now at a lower angle that makes it easier to see the cat. It’s a little black shadow, barely noticeable in the shade under the car, except for the green of its eyes. It’s grabbing at the feather Minkyun is sliding around, just as distracted by Minkyun as Minkyun is by it. Hyojin has started making little cooing noises, clicking to get its attention.

Seungjoon sighs and tries not to lose a finger placing the first treat under the car. He holds it out for a moment, but the cat ignores him, and after a while he starts depositing a line of them instead, leading out from under the car onto the road by his feet. 

He refuses to whisper all the ridiculous things Hyojin is whispering, but he settles on scratching at the asphalt under the car to get the cat’s attention, and after a long, long moment, he can hear the cat start to move around.

Hyojin peaks out from around the car as it starts emerging. Minkyun catches the movement and moves too, just in time to see Seungjoon scoop up the tiny kitten and pull it all the way out from under the car.

Seungjoon’s fairly sure he sees Hyojin roll his eyes, but Minkyun beams, dimples appearing on either side of his smile, and scuffles to take the squirming thing from Seungjoon’s arms. It lies more patiently in Minkyun’s arms, seemingly content as he scratches behind its ear, cooing at it quietly. 

“Have you done this before?” Minkyun asks, impressed, eyes wide, and Seungjoon freezes when he sees the question is directed his way.

“A few times,” he lies, trying not to make it obvious that he’s kicking what remains of the cat food under the car. “Can’t leave them stuck under there by themselves.”

Minkyun smiles down at the cat as it starts meowing at him. Hyojin ‘aww’s and reaches forward hesitantly, making sure Minkyun catches the gesture, ensuring his smile is packed with nervousness.

He’s trying to be endearing, Seungjoon thinks drily. 

It must work, at least a little, because Minkyun laughs breathily and shuffles, so his arms aren’t hiding the kitten as much, coming closer to Hyojin.

The kitten meows, leaning further into Minkyun’s touch as Hyojin holds a hand over it for a moment before letting one finger graze lightly against its back. The kitten doesn’t seem to mind, with Minkyun still holding it.

Seungjoon glances down at his own hand and curses quietly. The little bastard had scratched him when he’d picked it up.

He makes sure Minkyun sees the scratch, his hands planted on Hyojin’s shoulders as he leans forward to see the kitten, the angry red line marking the back of his hand directly in Minkyun’s line of sight.

“Oh- hey, it scratched you.”

Seungjoon takes his hand from Hyojin’s shoulder and holds it up to his face as if just noticing. “Oh. It’s alright, it happens sometimes.”

Minkyun pouts down at the kitten in his arms like a disappointed mother, tutting as he shifts its weight to one side and reaches into his back pocket. He draws out a small band aid, which Seungjoon considers declining, but then reaches for, letting his fingers graze the other boy’s as he accepts it.

“Thanks.”

Minkyun hums in acknowledgement and shuffles again, this time sitting fully on the sidewalk. As if realising what Seungjoon’s thinking, Hyojin grabs the plaster from his hand and starts applying it himself, before Seungjoon can get any ideas about asking for Minkyun’s help. Seungjoon gives him a smile of thanks that’s brimming with very obvious aggression. Hyojin returns it just as sharply.

The chime of a door rings behind them, but none of them look toward the cafe. 

“Mi-Min!”

Now they do look up, all three of them confused at the sudden volume of another boy’s voice. It’s the friend they’d seen before, a shorter boy with sandy highlights in his mousy hair, wire frame glasses perched on his nose.

Minkyun looks up at him, sees who it is, and sighs. He goes back to talking quietly to the cat.

“Who-”

“I’m Hyojin,” Hyojin says, jumping to his feet, ensuring he has the first word this time. “This is my friend Seungjoon.”

The newcomer ignores them almost entirely and focuses on Minkyun again. “Do you know these two?”

Minkyun shrugs obliviously. “No.”

“Then-” the boy shuffles on his feet, obviously uncomfortable, “why-”

“We saw the cat,” Seungjoon smiles. “Thought he might want some help.”

Minkyun’s friend slides behind him suddenly, pulling at his shoulders. Almost falling backwards, Minkyun yelps, scrambling to his feet with a frustrated sound.

“ _What_?”

He’s taller than he’d looked- taller than both Seungjoon and Hyojin, though even when he’s clearly annoyed at his friend he can’t quite manage to look intimidating with a kitten bundled in his arms.

“Do I need to remind you of the concept of stranger danger?”

Minkyun sets the kitten down by his feet, where it stays, curling around his ankle. “That’s for kids, Changyoon.”

“Strangers can still be dangerous to adults!”

“We’re not dangerous,” Hyojin laughs. 

Changyoon jumps as if he’d forgotten they were there, and Minkyun gives a laugh that somehow manages at once to sound apologetic and exasperated.

“Sorry. He’s a little…-” he glances at his friend “-jumpy.”

“That’s alright,” Hyojin reassures.

“We should probably be going, anyway,” Seungjoon adds, glancing down at the kitten coiled around Minkyun’s leg. _Our work here is done_ , he hopes his expression says, _now we’ve swooped in to help rescue this helpless little kitty._

Minkyun’s friend seems very eager for them to part ways, but both Hyojin and Seungjoon linger on the sidewalk.

“See you around?” Seungjoon asks, leaning forward a little so Minkyun’s eyes flicker to his face. 

Minkyun nods, smiling politely- not wide enough for Seungjoon to be confident. But that’s fine. There’s plenty of time to stage a fake-accidental reunion. Hyojin smiles and says goodbye like he’s thinking the exact same thing.


	2. Research

“So,” Hyojin says as he enters the kitchen, phone held out in front of him. “Target’s name is Park Minkyun, born November 16th, 1995, lives with two roommates.” He takes a seat at their kitchen table and locks his phone, grinning across the tabletop at Seungjoon. “He’s a Scorpio.”

“Trying to show off, are you?” Seungjoon goes back to picking at his ramen. “He only ever posts about animals,” he sighs, feigning disinterest, “on _all_ of his social media.”

“You found him too?”

Seungjoon gives him a challenging look. “Course I found him. Who do you take me for?” Hyojin doesn’t answer, just sits, sliding Seungjoon’s bowl over to his seat and plucking his chopsticks from his hand.

Seungjoon tuts, but lets him. “You got all that information from his friend’s account, right?”

Hyojin nods a little distractedly, his cheeks full of food.

“Which one? Changyoon?”

With a shake of his head, Hyojin pushes his bowl back. “Both of them.”

“Yuto?”

The impressed grin Hyojin gives him makes it obvious he knows what Seungjoon is doing- giving Hyojin all of the information he already knows, just so he can show he’s one step ahead of him. Hyojin doesn’t sound worried, though, when he muses: “You really did do your research.”

Seungjoon shrugs. “What can I say?” he sighs. “It was almost  _ too easy  _ for me, you know?”

Humming, Hyojin nods, resting his chin in his hand. “I know the feeling. I just couldn’t sleep last night thinking about how humiliated you’re going to be when I win so quickly.” He pouts, exaggeratedly, and Jaeyoung, who’s just stepped into the kitchen, groans.

“You’re not actually doing this, are you?” he asks as he rummages around in their fridge. “This feels too close to stalking for my liking. I might have to report you.”

“You  _ know  _ we’re too pretty for prison,” Hyojin says.

Jaeyoung pads over to the table and sees Seongjoon’s phone resting by his bowl, still open to an instagram account. It isn’t Minkyun’s, but he locks it anyway, sensing an oncoming lecture.

“We’re hardly  _ stalking,”  _ he says quickly. “Everyone dates like this now. Sta-looking at social media accounts before you pursue someone is just how it’s done now.”

“I don’t do that,” Jaeyoung objects.

“Different ball park,” Hyojin cuts in. “And now it’s been made abundantly clear how much of a raging bisexual this guy is, we no longer need to stalk him on the internet.”

Seungjoon nods along. Jaeyoung pulls out a chair between them.

“Is that really what you were looking for?”

Hyojin smirks. “Amongst other things.”

“Just tell me you didn’t try to find his address-”

“Of course not!” Hyojin cries, incredulously, and then his eyes shift to Seungjoon with a question behind them. A little offended, Seungjoon shakes his head, putting his hands in the air as a gesture of innocence.

“He’s single,” Seungjoon says, before Jaeyoung can yell any more. “In case you’re worried about us being homewreckers or something. And everything we know was very easy to find,” he adds, wiggling his phone in the air. “No information he was trying to hide.”

Jaeyoung sighs and leaves them to it, the soft sounds of him padding around their living room just audible over the sounds of Hyojin scouring the snack drawer.

“I thought you said you were dieting,” Seungjoon says, infinitely amused at the frown Hyojin gives him over his shoulder.

“Starting tomorrow.” He pulls a bag of chips out of the drawer and scuffles back to the table.

“That’s what you always say.”

“I mean it this time,” Hyojin says around a mouthful. “I have someone to impress, after all.”

Seungjoon coos. “You don’t need to try so hard to impress me, Jin.” He wipes away a fake, stray tear.

Rolling his eyes, Hyojin gives him a one-handed gesture as he stands, snatching the bag of chips from the table.

“Showtime,” he says, smirking over his shoulder as Seungjoon looks up at him in surprise. The younger boy follows him out of the kitchen, as Hyojin walks through the living room toward the front door of the loft.

“Where are you going?”

Shrugging on a jacket, Hyojin barely spares him a glance. “Out.”

Seungjoon scoffs and crosses his arms. “With who?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Hyojin smiles, reaching behind him for the doorknob. The door swings open and he steps through, waving jovially to Seungjoon on his way.

“Have fun fighting a losing battle,” Seungjoon calls after him, even though the door closing must block out most of his words.

Hyojin hears enough of it to guess what he’d yelled, and he chuckles quietly as he skips down the flights of stairs leading from their apartment, forgoing the lift he’d usually use in favour of getting some exercise in- his cheeks have started getting rounder, again, and it isn’t the image he wants for going up against Seungjoon. He really should get on that diet. 

The stairs make him dizzy, going round and round until he reaches the bottom, and he takes a moment to catch his bearings out on the street, feeling the summer sun hit his skin. He pulls on a pair of shades as he starts walking toward his destination, thankful that he knows the way. The campus he'd saw on Changyoon's instagram had been familiar, from the times Hyojin had walked to meet one of his friends still in school. His feet remember the way, and he lets them carry him.

He’s less certain when he gets there, but he’d figured this would be a process of elimination anyway, so when he gets to the campus he spins, reading the plates on each university building, which department they are, and trying to guess.

Minkyun. He’d liked animals. Biology? 

Nah. As a self-proclaimed artsy type himself, Hyojin is fairly certain that whatever it is Minkyun’s studying here isn’t science-y.

He’s at the side of campus surrounded by the arts department buildings, anyway, because his friend is a Music major, and this part of campus is the only one he knows how to navigate, so he starts towards the closest building and musters up the needed confidence to walk through the lobby as if he belongs there.

There’s a reception desk, just like the one he’d seen in his friend’s building, with a young woman squinting at an ancient computer behind a high desk. Hyojin makes a beeline straight for her, sliding the jacket from his shoulders and crumpling it in one hand.

“Excuse me,” he says, in his talking-to-older-people voice, brimming with shy politeness. “I just realised I picked up the wrong jacket after class.” He holds up his jacket for her to see. “And I was wondering whether you could tell me if there was a-” he peers at the label, trying to discern the inked lettering there that he’d written himself this morning “-a Park Min- Minkyun in this department?”

She gives him a polite smile. “I’m afraid I’m not allowed to disclose any personal information-”

“-I don’t need to know his address or anything!” Hyojin interrupts quickly, trying to appear flustered but firm. “Or even his department. I would just feel better about leaving it if I knew he studied here, you see he-” covering his hands with the jacket, he draws something out of his back pocket and pretends to find it in the coat “-he left his wallet, so..”

This selfless act of charity seems to sway the poor receptionist. She gives him the same smile and turns to the computer. “I see. One moment, please.”

She taps a few words on the keyboard, clicks the mouse a few times, and Hyojin hovers awkwardly beside the desk. Hyojin, who'd saw her reaction to Minkyun's name, has the feeling that she doesn't actually need to search a database to know who he's talking about- which was why he hadn't bothered asking if he had the right department. Clearly, Minkyun was well known here.

The receptionist looks back up at him. 

“Yes, there’s a Park Minkyun in this department. If you give me the jacket, I’ll make sure he gets it.”

Hyojin almost laughs aloud. It had been far too easy.

Of course, he has to give up his jacket, and the wallet that he’d thankfully had the sense to empty on the way here, but they’re no great loss. He’d needed new ones anyway.

Now he’s found him. Park Minkyun is in the Arts department, which means that even if his classes aren’t in this exact building, he’ll be in one of the buildings surrounding it, and Hyojin’s found his target.

He now knows the perfect place to just ‘happen’ upon the boy he’d met yesterday. Now he just needs the provisions.


	3. Impulse Decisions

“How’d it go with lover boy?” Seungjoon asks him, collapsing into the living room sofa beside him. “Get a marriage proposal yet?”

Hyojin grins but doesn’t take his eyes from the TV. Knowing very well he hadn't even saw Minkyun again yet, he says: “I’m thinking The Bahamas for the honeymoon. Thoughts?”

“Sounds perfect.” Seungjoon throws a piece of popcorn in the air and catches it in his mouth. “Are you going to tell me where you’ve been all day?” He reaches out to ruffle Hyojin’s hair, but stops when the older boy tries to assault him. “When did you change it?”

“This morning.” Hyojin runs a hand through his now baby-pink curls and smiles. “Like it?”

Seungjoon narrows his eyes. “How does this tie into the game?” he asks.

It’s the closest Hyojin could get to the colour Minkyun’s sweater had been when they’d first spotted him- the only colour he can be confident the boy likes. But he can’t give too much away.

So Hyojin humms, watching a car chase play out on screen with little interest. “How could it?”

As the movie plays on, he moves to rest his back against the armrest, stretching his legs out over Seungjoon’s lap. “What about you? If I didn’t know better than to trust you, I’d think you’d already given up. Did you even leave the apartment today?”

Seungjoon tuts and wags a finger at him. “It’s all about patience, Hyojin. Let him spend some time thinking _I wonder where that really attractive boy who rescued the kitten for me went_ before I show back up again, or else it’ll seem too good to be true.”

“Or you’ll scare him away.”

“Says the guy who’s been stalking him all day,” Seungjoon shoots back. 

“Touché.”

Though they’re joking around like they always do, Hyojin can’t help feeling a little nervous. Whilst he’s always been one for thinking on his feet, sometimes to the point of drastic impulsiveness, Seungjoon has more patience. It looks like he’s been doing nothing all day, but Hyojin would be surprised if he hadn’t been working on some kind of plan to undermine Hyojin’s efforts. 

Whatever. He should focus on his own game. Worry about Seungjoon later.

He waits a few days before going back to Minkyun’s campus. It’d be suspicious to show up again too quickly, but leaving it too late means giving Seungjoon a window to sweep in and make a move, so he gives it until the end of the week and prays Minkyun has classes on a friday. Just in case, he makes sure to get there as early as possible- picking up an essential package on the way. The parcel meows at him as he carries it to a campus bench outside the music department.

The block is still empty, the hour too early for college kids to start descending, and Hyojin has a while by himself to consider just how crazy he is to have made such a rash decision so early on. He’s definitely putting too much effort into this stupid bet. Seungjoon’s probably still sleeping peacefully right now and here he is, his wallet significantly lighter than it had been yesterday, a cardboard box in his lap, staring down at the most significant impulse buy of his twenty-something years of experience with impulse buys.

It really is quite cute, though. He’d picked out a tiny, pure black kitten, hoping the colour would jog Minkyun’s memory if he had happened to forget them in the few days since their meeting. It’s shy, at first, but it starts licking at his fingertip after a while, when people finally start to walk the streets around them. 

Definitely a stupid decision. Jaeyoung will _not_ like this. But Hyojin supposes he could live with it. The little thing has started to grow on him already.

It meows up at him, a shrill sound almost too quiet to hear, and instinctively he does it back, copying the noise as he picks it up, surprised that it lets him. It’s so small it fits perfectly in his hands, curled up, batting his fingers with a paw once before realising he’s not a threat. 

It might be too cold for a kitten. It’s warm, to Hyojin, the early morning kind of warm, but to something so small and thin- oh God he doesn’t know what he’s doing. The rest of today is going to be full of very intensive internet research that he’s probably going to rope Jaeyoung into doing with him.

“Uh-do I know you?”

Shit! He hadn’t been paying attention. He’d been so busy worrying over the cat, he’d forgotten the reason he’s here, and now Minkyun’s blinking down at him, glancing at the kitten curled up at his chest with a wary smile.

“Oh-Minkyun! Right? We met the other day, with the cat-”

“-Under the car, right.” Minkyun nods. Thank God, at least he remembers him. “I didn’t know you-” he points at the kitten, obviously trying to hold himself back from stepping closer and petting it, and Hyojin smiles.

“Yeah. He’s new.” He glances down at the kitten, stroking it as gently as possible with one hand, and then laughs nervously. The laugh’s forced; the nerves are very real. “Honestly, I’m a little at a loss on how to take care of it.”

Minkyun hums understandingly and crouches by the bench, still staring at the kitten. “Is this why you tried to help the other day?”

Hey, even better: he didn’t even need to explain that part of the plan himself.

“Yeah. I guess it was a guilty conscience.” Another laugh, equally nervous, has the kitten stirring against him, unhappy with the movement, and Minkyun makes a startled ‘Oooh’ noise and leans closer.

“Can I?”

Hyojin nods, sighing with sincere relief when Minkyun gently takes the kitten from him. It already seems more satisfied in his hands, the little traitor.

Minkyun laughs softly when Hyojin tells him as much. “He’ll warm up to you eventually,” he reassures, smiling as widely as humanly possible, dimples appearing in his cheeks as he turns back to the cat. “Does he have a name?”

Fuck.

“J.” It’s out of his mouth before he even realises thinking it, and he can’t even laugh about naming his cat after his best friend because he’s too busy pretending he’d already thought the name over very carefully.

“Jay?”

Jay it is. “Yup.”

Minkyun kneels on the concrete and lifts the kitten up to his face. “Hi, Jay.” It makes no reaction when he scratches its ear- Hyojin had tried it a few minutes ago and almost lost a finger.

Jaeyoung is, as expected, not thrilled with the idea of having a fourth roommate. Even if that roommate is quiet, tiny and adorable. It’s almost worth it, though, to see Seungjoon’s expression when he comes into the living room, sees the little thing napping on Hyojin’s lap, and understands immediately.

“ _You bought a cat?”_ he asks, loud enough for the kitten to bolt across the room.

Jaeyoung, who’d jumped almost as much as the cat, shushes him. Hyojin shrugs, a wicked smirk on his lips.

“I see how it is. I see. Nice try,” Seungjoon nods, continuously, as he walks into the room and takes a seat on the sofa. “Might I ask the little demon’s name?”

“Jay.”

Jaeyoung’s eyes lift from his phone screen, wide with surprise. “Jay like Jaeyoung?”

Hyojin shakes his head. “Jay like J-US.”

Seungjoon’s incredulous expression turns scandalised, his voice only rising in volume. “You stole my stage name for your cat?”

“It was the first thing I could think of!”

Seungjoon shakes his head. “I can’t believe you.”

“I can’t wait until I’m out of college,” Jaeyoung says dreamily. “Then I can waste all my money on completely ridiculous stuff like this whenever I want.”

“If you get a cat too I’m moving in with Minseok.”

“Oh, sweet,” Hyojin says. “I saw a really cute siamese too Jaeyoung, I can buy it _for_ you if you want.”

“Very funny,” Seungjoon grumbles. “This place would fall apart without me and you know it.”

Both of them scoff at him at the same time, equal measures incredulous, and he rolls his eyes, snatching the remote from where it sits on a cushion by Hyojin’s side and turning on the TV.

“Did he like it, then?”

Hyojin focuses on the TV. He doesn’t know why, but the question makes him nervous. It’s just a bet, but he has no way of knowing whether Seungjoon really is as nonchalant as he’s pretending to be.

“He told me if I needed any advice in caring for it-him, he could help me out.”

Seungjoon hums, supposedly too absorbed in the TV to give much of a reaction.

“It’s been a week,” Hyojin reminds him. “D’you not wonder whether he’s forgotten you?”

“If he’s talking to you again, he’ll remember there was someone else with you. Especially if that someone else was _way_ better looking and also happened to be the hero that saved that poor, helpless kitty.”

Hyojin grabs the cushion between them and swings, but Seungjoon bats it away before it can do him any damage, laughing.

“You know I don’t believe you’ve been here all week doing nothing,” Hyojin says, trying to see any change of expression on Seungjoon’s face, any hint at what’s to come. “What’s the masterplan?”

Seungjoon pouts thoughtfully, shaking his head. “No masterplan.”

Hyojin looks around the room for some solidarity, but the kitten has happily crawled under the other sofa and Jaeyoung is purposefully avoiding his eye, with a hand covering his face as he looks down at his phone.

Hyojin asks anyway. “D’you believe this, Jaeyoung?”

The younger boy winces. “I’m trying to stay out of this.” He takes the hand that’d been covering his eyes away and looks across at them. “But...no.”

“Exactly.” Hyojin gets to his knees on the sofa, peering closely at Seungjoon’s face, jabbing a finger into his chest. “I’m on to you, buddy,” he says quietly, exaggeratedly menacing, and laughs when Seungjoon pushes him away.

He must be planning something. Now Hyojin just has to figure out what.

* * *

  
  


**Seungjoon**

Well

Woke up to you gone

And now jaeyoungs panicking about how to take care of your new pest

I can only guess who you’re with

  
  


**Hyojin**

Minkyun says hi

Except he actually doesnt cause i havent mentioned you

Neither has he by the way

  
  


**Seungjoon**

Uh huh

Whatre you two doing

**Hyojin**

Feeding strays

Care to join?

**Seungjoon**

And get rabies?

Pass

**Hyojin**

Your loss

I'll just be here 

Bonding with my new friend

Enjoy taking care of Jay for me 

**Seungjoon**

_Hard_ pass

I think i’ll let jaeyoung do that

**Hyojin**

Got plans?

**Seungjoon**

Im going to the gym

Is that allowed?

**Hyojin**

Hmm

I guess so

since minnie is literally standing right next to me

Enjoy getting all sweaty and gross

**Seungjoon**

Enjoy the rabies

  
  


* * *

When Hyojin sees Seungjoon next, the story irritatingly adds up. Seungjoon looks like he always looks after a workout, his hair sticking to his forehead, his shirt slightly damp and clinging to him, a satisfied, tired smile on his lips as he greets them and immediately locks himself in a bathroom. As the sound of the water running starts up, Hyojin reclines, stretching out his legs on the sofa and patting Jay, who’d slunk over to rest on his stomach. He seems to be getting used to him. Or maybe he can just smell the cat food Minkyun had been making Hyojin leave out for the strays all day.

Seungjoon grimaces as he walks past.

“You’re really keeping that thing?” he asks, and Hyojin looks down at where he’d been absently running his fingers through Jay’s fur.

“You don’t think he’s cute? Don’t worry,” he tells Jay, giving him a reassuring pat and smiling as he gets a meow in return, “he’ll warm up to you.”

“I won’t.” His eyes flicker over Hyojin’s face, more serious. “How was it today? Did you talk me up?”

“Ah, you know, I meant to,” Hyojin says, in the most ridiculously apologetic tone he can manage, “but there just wasn’t enough time. Minkyun wouldn’t let me get a word in. Too busy talking my ears off.”

“Sounds fun,” Seungjoon notes around a tight smile.

“It was,” Hyojin smiles. “And get this, Seungjoon: _he sings at a jazz bar_ , downtown. He sings. He’s a singer. You know who else is a singer?”

“Whatever,” Seungjoon sighs. “I can sing too. Who knows, he might like my voice more.”

Hyojin scoffs. “Sure.”

Jay pounces off of his stomach, startling him, and Seungjoon chuckles at his expense.

“Pretty sure tonight’s one of his nights,” he says, and Hyojin’s eyes turn into saucers.

“ _You knew?”_

“Might have.” Seungjoon gets to his feet, stretching his arms above his head. “Anyway I’m gonna head out-”

Hyojin scrambles to his feet. “Wow, wow, no you’re not. Not without me.”

Seungjoon gives him a wolfish grin and gestures for Hyojin to pass through the doorway before him. “You want to come and embarrass yourself, be my guest.Oh, but-” Seungjoon puts a hand to his mouth as if he’d just thought of something shocking “-whoever will watch your _adorable_ little pest, hmm?”

“Ha. Minkyun said Jay’ll be fine by himself for a few hours. I’m coming with you.”

Seungjoon’s eyes pass over his clothes. “Like that?”

“Give me ten minutes.”


	4. Distracted Glances

The taxi ride is tense- Hyojin is hyper-aware of Seungjoon in the seat next to him, smirking, his eyes taking in the dark streets of the city as they drive, the silence deep enough that Hyojin can hear his own heartbeat.

He hadn’t noticed that his wardrobe is starting to look distinctly cat-haired until he’d rushed to his room to change, and saw that the tracksuit he’d been wearing was littered with Jay’s dark fur. It had taken him an age to pick out something more presentable, a satin shirt the same pink as his hair and ripped, skinny dark jeans he’d bought a few months ago and never had the confidence to wear until now. He’d even fixed his hair, added a curl so it sits neater across his forehead, and yet he still can’t feel confident, with Seungjoon beside him.

It’s not even as if he looks like he’s trying. Washed out jeans and a white t-shirt, under a suede button up and a two-tone denim jacket, everything layered and unbuttoned and infinitely cooler than anything Hyojin would think to put together. He’s glad he’s worked hard to make a connection with Minkyun before this, no matter how small, because right now he’s feeling like he really, _really_ needs the head start.

“Ready to have your ass handed to you?” Seungjoon asks, as they step out onto the sidewalk and their taxi starts to pull away.

Hyojin scoffs, pushing down his nervousness enough to assume a smug expression. “Can’t wait to see how little Minkyun remembers you,” he retaliates, and Seungjoon laughs and pushes the door open, gesturing for Hyojin to step inside first.

It’s exactly what he’d been envisioning for a jazz bar- everything’s dark wood, green paint and gold light, dim and somehow smoky, a long bar against the back wall and a stage to their right with small, round tables set around it. There’s a band, but no singer yet, and a hasty glance around shows no sign of Minkyun. 

He finds an empty table halfway between the bar and the table and Seungjoon goes to order drinks.

“There’s still half an hour before he’s set,” he says as he returns, sliding a tumbler to Hyojin. 

Hyojin sips something that burns the back of his throat. “And you know this _how_?”

Minkyun had only mentioned the bar in passing, not even saying the name of the place, or the fact that he was singing that night. Hyojin had thought it would sound too eager to ask about it, and yet here he is.

“I have my sources,” Seungjoon says vaguely. Hyojin rolls his eyes and focuses on the music, letting it pull him in like it always does, taking away his awkwardness. Right now it’s the soft, ignorable kind of background music, a quiet, upbeat jazz piano and a few mellow strings. It’s hard to get lost in- or maybe Hyojin’s just got other things on his mind.

“It isn’t like you to show up early.”

Seungjoon gives him an innocent, confused expression that Hyojin frowns at. Seungjoon has always been the late-enough-to-make-an-entrance kind of person. There’s too much time between finding a seat and Minkyun’s set for Hyojin to feel at ease.

And then Seungjoon admits, “I’m meeting a friend.”

Hyojin almost scoffs. “I know Jaeyoung’s still at home fussing over the cat,” he says, “and I’m already here. There’s a very slim chance Minseok’s gonna walk through that door, considering he’s on an exchange halfway across the world, and last I checked, that narrows your remaining friendship pool down to a solid 0. Who on earth would you be meeting in a jazz bar?”

It can’t be Minkyun. Seungjoon had been so certain of his plan to wait until their reintroduction, to make a sudden reappearance just when Minkyun had been losing hope of seeing him again- much to Hyojin’s amusement. But this seems far too similar to the start of a masterplan finally playing out for Hyojin to be amused anymore. Even the soft jazz and whatever the hell’s in his glass can’t relax him as they wait.

There’s about ten minutes until Minkyun’s scheduled set and Hyojin’s starting to wonder whether Seungjoon actually _had_ been meaning Minkyun when two boys walk in, and one of them calls Seungjoon’s name. Seungjoon turns and waves happily to a small boy who’s making his way through the tables to them.

He’s vaguely familiar, and it takes only a moment for Hyojin to remember his name, just before Seungjoon opens his mouth and says it so warmly anyone would think they were brothers.

“Yuto! Come here, I got us a table.”

The smaller boy smiles politely, accepting the chair Seungjoon pulls out for him. 

“This is Hyojin,” Seungjoon adds, with a disinterested gesture to Hyojin across the table. Yuto smiles politely, but seems too shy for an actual introduction. Hyojin wonders how on earth he seems so friendly with Seungjoon.

The other boy who’d been just behind Yuto hovers by the table, and before Hyojin’s smart enough to do it first, Seungjoon turns his attention to him and beams.

“Hey, I know you too, don’t I? Chang-Changyoon?”

“Yeah,” the boy says, a little suspiciously, stretching out the word. He sits, with more hesitation, and Hyojin jumps at the opportunity to do _something_ before Seungjoon gets too comfortable in his new role as host and gets to his feet.

“I need another drink,” he says, earnestly. “What can I get you?”

Yuto orders something bitter and Changyoon asks for something sweet and Hyojin disappears to the bar for a few moments that are long enough to allow Seungjoon to get both of them laughing, when Hyojin returns.

“Did I miss something?” the pink haired boy asks, trying not to sound annoyed, but politely curious.

Yuto’s still giggling, so of course, Seungjoon takes this moment, just as the band stops playing and the sets start changing, to reveal what he’d been doing in the week Hyojin had been making contact with Minkyun.

“Right. Sorry,” he laughs breathily after the apology, and Yuto smiles. “We were just talking about a dance performance Yuto has been working on.”

“He’s been helping me with ideas,” Yuto adds, his voice quiet, but not as uncertain as Hyojin had expected.

So here it is. This is Seungjoon’s play.

“You’re a dancer?” Hyojin asks, though he’s already watched the short clips on Yuto’s instagram.

“A dance major,” Yuto corrects. “Right now I’m focussing on school-”

“-But he makes these great choreographies,” Seungjoon adds, talking over the younger boy in his excitement, bringing a small, pleased smile to Yuto’s lips.

Changyoon fiddles with the straw in his glass and leans forward, asking a question Hyojin has been tiptoeing around for a while. “How did you say you two met again?”

“He goes to my gym,” Yuto says, still smiling.

Seungjoon nods. Hyojin doesn’t think the other boys notice the way he aims it more at Hyojin than the rest of them, nor the sly quirk of a brow he throws into the mix just to drive home the fact that he’s feeling very smug right now.

Hyojin takes a gulp of his drink and thinks. Right. This is fine. Seungjoon’s been buttering up one of Minkyun’s friends because they have a hobby in common and now Minkyun can hear all about how sweet and helpful and funny he is, and what a good dancer, and whatever crap Seungjoon’s been spinning with Yuto, and Seungjoon can be reintroduced to Minkyun by someone close to him instead of making direct contact like Hyojin had. But they’re still in a jazz bar. Hyoijn is doing pretty well in the music business for some freelancer putting music online after finishing college last year- he has a few side jobs, to keep up with his share of the rent, but he’s fairly pleased with his abilities, and he knows he’s more like Minkyun than Seungjoon is.

Seungjoon’s too cool, to unbothered, and he dances, not sings. Sure, he’s apparently now friends with one of Minkyun’s friends, and he’s still a student like the rest of them, and opposites attract logic would mean he’s in with a better chance than Hyojin is, but- ok now he’s thinking too much. Where was he going with this again?

Right. Singing. Disposable income. New, adorable little kitten. Actual conversations with Minkyun, no matter how brief. He has a few points in his favour, too. And he’s started thinking that maybe Minkyun’s a little too...well, _nice_ for Seungjoon. Maybe for him, too, but there’s not as large of a divide between his personality and Mikyun’s as there is with Seungjoon’s confident cool and Minkyun’s slightly frazzled brightness. He thinks he’s got a chance.

He’s less certain, however, as soon as the band leaves the stage and Minkyun steps into the spotlight.

Changyoon and Yuto clap a little louder than the other people in the bar, too polite to holler like Jaeyoung and Seungjoon do whenever Hyojin is behind a microphone, and Hyojin meets Seungjoon’s eye for a fraction of a panicked second before all of their attention goes to the stage.

Minkyun _looks_ like the same person. It’s not as if anything drastic has changed about him since Hyojin saw him that morning, petting and cooing to strays on sidewalks and alleys. He’s only slightly dressed up, in a nicer, darker sweater with a crisp white collar, his hair in waves and out of his eyes. But he’s just _different._ When he sits down at the piano and carefully angles the microphone towards his face, he doesn’t even seem to notice the people around him. He’s not as frantic, not as distracted, not constantly looking around him for something to do, some joke to crack. 

His voice starts out softly, and Hyojin can feel a hush settle over the people around him, the atmosphere shifting in that way it always does when the person at the mic is someone people really want to hear. It’s the feeling he always hopes for when it’s his voice floating around a room. 

Hyojin doesn’t recognise the song. Jazz isn’t exactly his speciality. But it’s kind of slow and smooth, and Minkyun’s voice is honeyed and strong and everyone around him seems to cling to it, the conversations quieting, the fidgeting stopping. Seungjoon’s eyes are wide, when the song ends, and Hyojin finally manages to take his attention from the stage. When their eyes meet, Seungjoon curses softly, too quiet for the others to hear, and Hyojin can only nod in agreement. 

Changyoon and Yuto make polite conversation, but Hyojin turns back to the stage. A few patrons are still clapping, raising their arms above their head, and Minkyun spots them, and gives them his signature wide smile. Under the bright spotlight, his caramel hair looks lighter, catching the light, and the gold of his skin glows. He stands and a group of people a little older than him pull him into conversation, a few laughs and many smiles exchanged between them. Minkyun shakes his head, but leans closer to the table, and after a moment the people at the table chuckle, the closest one hitting him jovially on the arm, and he grins down at them. He says a polite goodbye, despite the fact that they’re very obviously asking him to stay, and moves on. Another table pulls him in as another set starts, and then another, Minkyun obliging them all, that wide grin never moving, shaping all of his words, making people laugh and lean over tables to be closer. Changyoon and Yuto excuse themselves to go save him after a few minutes, and as soon as they’re gone, Seungjoon curses again.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asks, and Hyojin follows his eyeline to Minkyun, who’s got one hand on a patron’s shoulders and is saying something into his ear that leaves him chuckling. Hyojin attempts to connect the Minkyun moving so fluidly around the dimness of a smoky bar and the one who’d been chasing kittens this morning and fails spectacularly.

“We’re way out of our depth, aren’t we?”

Seungjoon takes a swig from his glass, his eyes never leaving Minkyun across the room. “Yeah,” he breathes.

Both of them turn away hastily as Yuto and Changyoon reach Minkyun and pull him out of his conversation. They try to act busy in the moments before they all start back towards their table, and they can once again hear Changyoon’s voice over the din of the bar.

“Well maybe if you stopped flirting with every breathing thing in this room you might have noticed us sooner-”

“Oh-Hyojin?” Minkyun cuts off Changyoon’s half-amused muttering with a gasp, and Hyojin tries to smother the urge to jump up onto the tabletop and scream with victory, because Minkyun had stepped up to their table and saw them both, skimmed right over Seungjoon, and smiled at _Hyojin._ The joy is chased away very quickly with the realisation that the same wide, dimpled smile has hardly left Minkyun’s face for a second since he’d stepped down from the stage. 

“Kyun.” He smiles as brightly as he can, pleased to see Minkyun keep his attention on him.

“I didn’t know you’d be here,” he says, and Hyojin fights back a laugh.

“Well, Seungjoon said he was meeting some friends at a bar and asked me along, so-” he shrugs. “I didn’t know it’d be _this_ bar.”

Minkyun nods in understanding, somewhat returning to his usual cuteness, eyes wide, and then turns to Yuto.

“You didn’t tell me you were bringing people along,” he says, but Hyojin can’t tell whether he’s scolding or just making conversation. They all pull up chairs, and Hyojin smiles- Minkyun hadn’t sat at any of the other tables he’d been lingering around. It’s just because of Yuto and Changyoon, but nonetheless, he can’t help but be pleased.

“This is Seungjoon,” Yuto’s telling Minkyun. “We go to the same gym, and he’s been helping me out with a dance, so I asked him if he wanted to get drinks-”

“We’ve already met,” Minkyun interrupts. His eyes focus on Seungjoon’s face. He tips his head. “Haven’t we?”

Seungjoon’s eyes narrow. Hyojin watches him warily as he eyes Minkyun’s face and frowns, slightly. “I’m not sure,” he says. “Have we?”

Hyojin thinks this must be his cue to jump in and remind Seungjoon of Minkyun’s identity, the whole _you know, we helped him with the cat that one time?_. He says nothing.

Seungjoon saves himself. “Oh-wait.” His eyes go wide, a small grin lifting the corners of his lips, and he puts one elbow on the table, pointing lazily in Minkyun’s direction. “With the cat? That was you?”

Yuto sighs. “Sounds like him. I didn’t know you two knew each other.”

“We don’t,” Seungjoon says. “Me and Hyojin just bumped into him...at the start of the week, was it? He was trying to get a kitten out from under a car, or something.”

Minkyun nods along. The smile’s gone, but there’s a watchfulness in his eyes that Hyojin can’t help but deflate at. Hyojin can be all smiles and attentiveness and niceties, and Seungjoon’s cool indifference still catches Minkyun’s attention. He needs to do something to win his favour again.

“Can I get you a drink?” he asks, and then when Minkyun turns to him curiously, adds, “You must be thirsty after a set like that.”

“Oh.” Minkyun beams. “Thanks.”

Hyojin glances at Changyoon and Yuto’s glasses. “What can I get you? Whiskey and coke, something sweeter?”

Minkyun’s eyes follow him as Hyojin gets to his feet. “Actually, I don’t drink.”

“Me neither,” Seungjoon says. Hyojin’s eyes just about pop out of his skull.

“Then- do you mind?” Minkyun reaches for Seungjoon’s glass. “That song really-”

“I wouldn’t do that!” Seungjoon says quickly, shoving a hand over the top of his glass. There’s a beat of silence that only emphasises how loud his voice had been. “I’m recovering from a cold,” he says smoothly. “Don’t want to get sick and lose that lovely voice.”

Minkyun retracts his hand, buffering.

“I’ll get you a cola,” Hyojin says, and rushes away from the table.

From his spot leaning against the bar, he can see their table in it’s entirety, Minkyun and Yuto and Changyoon all talking, too far away to hear their voices but close enough to see their smiles. And Seungjoon, both arms stretched across the back of the chairs either side of him, Hyojin’s empty one and Yuto’s. He spots Hyojin watching him from the bar- Hyojin swears he winks, though he’s probably too far away to tell- and shuffles. He slides out of his jacket, chucking it onto the back of Hyojin’s chair, and ruffles his hands in his hair, disrupting it into messy curls. With so many people- and most of them inebriated- the bar’s getting warmer, and there’s a flush on his cheeks. Minkyun doesn’t turn towards him, but he definitely notices the movements. He stills a little in his laughter, just long enough for Hyojin to notice. When Yuto turns to bring Seungjoon into the conversation, a hand jovially on his arm, and Seungjoon leans forward with a small smile, Minkyun notices that too. Seungjoon acts like he can’t feel eyes on him as he laughs and talks with the others, sparing a few glances in Minkyun’s direction. Only a few. And yet Minkyun keeps watching him.

It’s Hyojin’s turn to swear softly, this time. He swipes the drink he’d ordered for Minkyun from the bartop and walks back to his chair. The game continues.


	5. Barriers

“Let’s hear it then, you smug bastard,” Hyojin says, as soon as the apartment door is shutting behind them.

Seungjoon laughs a little too much, throwing out a hand at the last second to catch himself before he falls. It takes him many attempts to toe his shoes off, but Hyojin doesn’t rush him, because he’s still squinting down at his laces as his fumbling fingers fail to untangle them. He gives up and charges past Seungjoon, shoving the younger boy into a wall as he passes and laughing at his yelp, heading towards the warm glow coming from the living room. Jaeyoung’s still awake, and he looks up from the TV and takes in their disgruntled, unstable appearance with wide eyes as they flop onto a sofa.

“How much did you two _drink?”_

Hyojin shushes him, waving a hand frantically in the air to emphasise the gesture. “Not important.” He shoves a finger in Seungjoon’s face. “You still haven’t explained how clever you’ve been this week, and I can tell you want to.”

The self-satisfied grin that’s been on Seungjoon’s face since the taxi ride home doesn’t budge. “Don’t act like you’re not curious,” he says, and then laughs at Hyojin’s eye roll. “But it really was quite clever of me.”

Jaeyoung turn the volume of the TV down and narrows his eyes at the two of them. “What did you do?”

“I joined the same gym as one of Minkyun’s friends,” Seungjoon says smugly. “No- wait, that’s the wrong place to start. OK. It actually started when I found Minkyun’s friends’ instagrams, and realised one of them was already following me, and had been liking some of my videos ‘cause he’s also a dancer. So I started liking his post and left a comment, and then I joined his gym, and hovered around him for a few days until it became very clear he wouldn’t approach me first, even though I saw him looking-”

“-God, take a breath before you pass out,” Jaeyoung interrupts.

Seungjoon gives a little drunken giggle. “So I waited until he was in one of the rentable rooms practicing a dance he’d been posting about and pretended the staff’d double booked us- knowing he’d be too shy to check himself, that is.”

“Yes, very clever,” Hyojin says, because Seungjoon had paused and looked at him as if he’d never continue without hearing a compliment first.

“I know. Anyway I offered to help him with his dance and he apparently liked my suggestions and it ended up with me saying we should hang out and him offering to buy me a drink, so of course I pretended like I didn’t know any good places and all it took was the implication that I like lively atmospheres and, tada! The masterplan played out just as I wanted.”

Jaeyoung scoffs. “So you met up with one of Minkyun’s friends for drinks. _That’s_ what you’re so smug about?”

“No, he’s right,” Hyojin huffs. “It was pretty clever. Yuto invited him to the bar Minkyun sings at so we just so we all meet up again. And now Minkyun can hear Yuto talk him up and he can keep up this ridiculous aloof bad-boy vibe he’s going for.”

Jaeyoung groans. “Gross, you’re the _worst_.” 

“It’ll work,” Seungjoon promises them. “You’ll see.”

Hyojin has another week to get nervous about this. He can see it playing out. Seungjoon is the type of guy that gets away with this kind of thing- if Hyojin acts like him, it feels stupid, it looks ridiculous, it doesn’t work. He’s more of a friends-first kind of guy, the type to be at your side for years before you notice him. A boy next door, kind and not too intense. Approachable. Seungjoon isn’t like that. This bet is sounding more and more insane to Hyojin as the days pass.

But approachable still works in his favour, it seems. Minkyun sees him wandering around campus one day and jogs up to him.

It’s been just over a week since they’d met at the bar. Seungjoon’s been leaving for the gym almost every day, and Hyojin had made himself busy strolling around the neighbourhood hoping for an opportunity like this one, to bump into Minkyun.

“Hyojin!”

He pushes his features into a surprised expression as he spins towards Minkyun’s voice.

“Hey,” Hyojin greets, his smile warm and sincere as he sees Minkyun’s slightly dishevelled hair, the dimples either side of his smile.

“What’re you doing here?” Minkyun asks, a little breathlessly, as he stops in front of Hyojin. “You don’t go to this school, do you?”

“Oh, no. I finished college last year, actually.”

Minkyun gasps in a way that would seem sarcastic on anyone else but, on him, sounds sincere and adorable and over the top. “No way. What d’you do?”

 _Here we go,_ thinks Hyojin _. One point to me._

“Odd jobs, here and there, when I need the money. Mostly open mics, writing, that kind of thing.”

“You’re a singer?” Hyojin nods shyly- dammit, he can’t even act cool if he tries- and Minkyun gasps again. “You should have told me!”

Hyojin laughs. “I’m telling you now, amn’t I?” He looks around at the groups of students lingering on the sidewalks and raises an eyebrow. “Do you have a class to be getting to? I don’t want to keep you.”

“Oh-no, I just finished for the day.”

Hyojin hums in understanding and checks his watch. “Then are you hungry? I was just on my way to get lunch-” he points down the block, somehow plucking an excuse to be walking through a college campus in the middle of the day from thin air. Screw master plans, thinking on his toes is Hyojin's area of expertise. “I could treat you.”

As expected, Minkyun immediately starts shaking his head so aggressively, his earrings jingle. “No, no, that’s-”

“Come on,” Hyojin smiles. “Consider it an apology for showing up at your bar unannounced.”

“But that’s alright, you said you didn’t know it was the same place-”

Hyojin giggles and groans at the same time and throws his head back, exaggerating his irritation. “Kyun, come on! It’s just lunch! Let me spoil you.”

There’s a faint pink blush on Minkyun’s face as he considers it. A slow, wide grin grows slowly across his lips, as if he can’t help it, and just as Hyojin feels himself about to keel over at the cuteness of it, he rubs the back of his neck and nods. “Alright, then. Just this once.”

_We'll see about that._

Despite his supposed agreement, as soon as they reach the counter of the cafe Hyojin had lead them to, Minkyun snatches Hyojin’s wallet out of his hand and passes a wad of bills to the cashier before Hyojin can stop him.

“Wha-hey! No fair!”

Minkyun sticks out his tongue, to which Hyojin lets out a scandalised gasp and presses a hand to his chest, doing his best to look offended.

“You only bought a coffee,” Minkyun laughs, the sound turning his voice breathy. “I couldn’t let you buy my lunch if I’m the only one of us actually eating.”

Hyojin had been eyeing one of the pastries, a jello-filled thing he only rarely sees behind the glass counter, but had reconsidered. That diet he’d promised Seungjoon had actually been going well. Who knew the only thing he’d needed to motivate him all this time was just a dumb competition with Seungjoon? His stomach feels empty, but at least the baby fat he’d be losing from his cheeks would make him look a little less like a kindergartener and a little more carelessly chic, like someone else he knows.

Minkyun badgers him about not eating anything so much as they walk out of the cafe he almost reconsiders, but after another few promises that he’d eat later, Minkyun drops the subject and becomes absorbed with the toasted sandwich he’d bought himself.

As Minkyun eats, Hyojin sips his coffee and tries not to look too restless. He wants to jump up and down, do a jumping jack or two, just to get rid of the jitters, because now they’re both out in the open again he has no plan and no clue what to say. The caffeine isn’t helping his nerves.

He’s saved as they pass a bench and Minkyun resolutely throws himself onto it. At least now he won’t have to wonder whether Minkyun is secretly hoping to get away from him- the younger boy looks up at him and pats the bench with an open palm.

Hyojin sits. 

“What stuff do you sing?” Minkyun asks, a hand over his mouth, his voice muffled by a mouthful of food.

“Um, anything, really. Most of its pop, some ballad stuff, some R&B if I’m in the mood for it.” At least their shared interest is easy to speak about. Hyojin could talk about music for hours with anyone. The nerves settle a little, and his smile is looser, easier, on his lips as Minkyun nods along. “I haven’t tried jazz before,” he admits.

“Mmm.” Minkyun laughs, chewing rapidly so he can speak. He swallows thickly, and then says, “I have a friend who likes jazz in my classes. I hadn’t really tried it out either until last semester, but I get extra credit for work experience, so I said I’d fill in for him when he was sick and-” he shrugs, “-I guess I enjoyed it more than I expected.”

Hyojin sips his coffee and smiles. “It suited you.” 

He doesn’t compliment Minkyun’s voice directly, though he wants to, because he’s always unsure what to say when people compliment his, and he doesn’t want to make things awkward if Minkyun is the like him, and doesn't know how to respond.

Minkyun tips his head to one side. “I don’t know. I miss my guitar.”

“You play guitar too?” A memory plays out in the back of Hyojin's mind, black and white piano keys under Minkyun's fingers, the slow, certain tempo he'd charmed out of them.

Minkyun watches a group of college kids pass them by with a thoughtful expression. “I’m decent.”

He's more serious today, but Hyojin doesn't know whether it's because of the conversation they're having or whether Minkyun's getting tired of him, and is finding it harder to seem excited and bright and energetic. It's not a bad change, though it does make Hyojin wary. It makes him want to find a way to bring back that wide, at-ease grin.

Hyojin bumps their shoulders together and feels a rush of relief when Minkyun laughs quietly at the gesture. “I’m sure you’re better than ‘decent’.”

“You can say that _after_ you’ve heard me play,” Minkyun jokes.

“Do I get to?”

Minkyun’s eyes flicker to his face. Hyojin’s stomach twists anxiously. It's definitely the conversation. The Minkyun sitting beside him is the same one from the bar, clever and charming and quick, though away from the stage and the spotlights his confidence has twisted into a kind of guarded politeness. Hyojin feels more confident talking about music. Minkyun seems like the opposite, like he's vulnerable, and all of the usual jokes and grins can't hide how he's quieter than before.

Hyojin curses very extensively and very aggressively in his head. He shouldn’t have asked. He’s sounding too desperate. He wants to come across as interested and warm, not eager and sleazy. He hadn’t realised there was such a thin line between those things until he finds himself teetering on the edge of it, and Minkyun’s still avoiding his gaze. He couldn't have known Minkyun was the type to keep his music to himself before he'd asked it, but he's definitely just crossed some kind of line.

It's the first barrier Hyojin finds, and he backtracks, fast.

“I was just kidding.”

“No- It’s…” Minkyun trials off, pulling the paper bag his lunch had came in apart into thin shreds. “It’s fine.”

The silence stretches on long enough to be noticeable. Paper crumples in Minkyun's grip. The younger boy turns his entire body to face him and Hyojin steals himself for a kind rejection, already feeling his cheeks turn a fiery red.

“How about this,” Minkyun says, and Hyojin nods miserably. “You show me some of your songs, and I’ll show you just how terrible I am at guitar.” He punctuates his sentence with an excited, small smile and Hyojin blanks.

He's...misread something. Hyojin tries to process what he’d just heard.

“You want to hear my music?”

Minkyun gives him a funny look, like it’s obvious, or it’s not that big of a deal and Hyojin’s blowing it out of proportion. “Sure. If you’d let me.”

Hyojin takes a too-large gulp of his coffee that scalds his mouth. He hopes Minkyun didn’t spot the twist of pain in his expression, but he thinks he’s fine. The younger boy’s just watching cars go past them. The guarded expression is gone, but the absence of his usual smiles is still all too noticeable to Hyojin. What's changed that he seems suddenly fine with sharing his music? Had Hyojin pushed him too much?

“Well, I work in a studio,” Hyojin rushes on, before the conversation changes and he misses his chance, fighting against his guilt. “I share it with a few other people who come and go, we all have a schedule and stuff… I don’t always know when it’ll be free, though.” Deep breath, keep your voice light. Pray this works. “I could text you?”

Minkyun’s eyes jump to his face. Hyojin swallows thickly. Damn, he's not used to this. He's usually the one being approached, not the one putting in all of this effort.

When was the last time he’d asked a guy for his number? Is there a way of doing it that sounds less desperate?

“I don’t really give my number out to-” Minkyun at least stops himself from saying ‘strangers’, so Hyojin guesses that’s something.

“Oh.” He tries to fight the blush he can feel crawling up his neck to his face. “I understand.”

Minkyun scratches the back of his neck. As if deciding something, he nods, dropping his hand from behind his ear and beckoning to Hyojin. “Give me your phone.”

Hyojin passes his phone over uncertainly. Minkyun had seemed pretty sure about not giving his number away, which Hyojin really should have seen coming. Winning the bet could never be that easy.

“Here,” Minkyun says, passing Hyojin's phone back. “Now we can talk.”

He flashes his wide grin, not at all shy to have exchanged details, which definitely feels like a bad thing.

Hyojin looks down at his phone to see Minkyun’s facebook profile on his screen. The word ‘friends’ taunts him from his notification box as Minkyun pulls out his own phone and accepts the request he’d sent himself.

Hyojin wants to be his friend, of course. That slightly awkward fact had made itself clear the first time they’d been out together, just walking around the neighbourhood, Minkyun searching for cats, Hyojin trying desperately to keep a conversation going. But ‘friends’ isn’t the aim of the game, and if he’s not careful, Seungjoon could swoop in and easily turn the tables.

“Cool.”

Oh god, he just said _cool_. Not the right response.

Minkyun just smiles and puts his phone back in his pocket. “Tell me when you’re free.”

This is good, Hyojin reminds himself. It isn’t a phone number, but it’s something. More than Seungjoon has right now. A chance to meet on more solid ground, the promise that perhaps Minkyun is looking forward to seeing him again, _wants_ to see him again, in whatever capacity. Even if it means talking about music, when he'd seemed so hesitant to open up before. Minkyun wants to talk to him again.

So maybe it's as friends. Hyojin can work with that.


	6. Heartbeats

The music cuts off. Yuto collapses onto the floor beside him, out of breath. His chest rises and falls rapidly- there’s a sheen of sweat on his forehead as he turns his face to Seungjoon’s and smiles shyly.

“Thanks for hel-”

“ _Stop,_ ” Seungjoon laughs. “You’ve thanked me so many times already I’m becoming immune to the word.”

Yuto laughs breathlessly and Seungjoon sits up, snatching a water bottle from where they lie by his feet, against the mirror, taking in the slight flush on his cheeks as he drinks.

“I needed the work out anyway,” he says. “Finals week is far too close for my liking. Best not to let myself get too lazy.”

Irritatingly, he means it. He’s pushing himself too hard, but that’s not exactly uncommon behaviour. He’s been in a slump. He’d hoped cosying up to Yuto could be mutually beneficial: he helps the boy work out choreography, going through the formations, and he gets closer to Minkyun through one of his friends. And he can clear his head.

There’s an all-body ache chasing the adrenaline high he’s on now, he can feel it, but he fends it away by sitting back against a mirror, giving Yuto a lazy smile.

“It’s less messy,” he reassures him. “A few more practices and you should have the formations sorted.”

Yuto nods in agreement as he pulls himself up from the floor. He studies Seungjoon as they catch their breath, a curious edge to his smile. “Don’t you have stuff to work on?” he asks hesitantly. It’s the closest to a personal question Yuto has ever asked him. “How do you have time to help out so much?”

Seungjoon tries not to think of the answer to that. Even without the distraction of this dumb bet and the promises he makes to Yuto, he wouldn’t have enough time. A little over a month, and he’d be done with school. The slump had hit at the worst possible moment.

He can't do any of it anymore. No new choreographies, no formations spinning in his head, no matter what he listens to. Songs that usually had him daydreaming don’t do what they used to anymore. It's not as if this hasn't happened before. He’ll get over it. He just needs the distraction. This way, he’s still on his feet, still practising.

“I’ve got plenty of time,” he reassures Yuto. If only he could mean that.

 _Focus on something else, Seungjoon_.

“What about the others? They don’t help you figure this stuff out?”

Yuto grimaces in a way that still manages to look fond. “Changyoon tries, but his heart’s not really in it, you know? He’s got other things he’d rather be doing.”

Seungjoon counts a few heartbeats before he asks: “And Minkyun?”

Yuto laughs, one bright, high burst of sound that echoes around the mirrored room. “Probably _too_ enthusiastic. But it’s hard to get any work done with him goofing around, so…”

Seungjoon smiles, but doesn’t laugh. Yuto’s eyes flicker over his face for a moment too long. 

Huh. He might have to be careful of Minkyun’s friends. If they sense something’s up, he’s finished.

Best to act more interested in Yuto. The younger boy’s the one he’d approached first, after all. And he’s not so bad, either. He’s easier to talk to than Seungjoon had expected, less shy and painfully polite than he had been when Seungjoon had first introduced himself. Hyojin would like him.

Changyoon, he’s less certain of. He hasn’t shown his face since that night at the bar, and Seungjoon hadn’t missed the way he’d eyed them both, him and Hyojin, a little more noticeably than Yuto had. So- get closer to Yuto. Stay away from Changyoon. 

Yuto attempts to get to his feet and groans, flopping back down. 

Seungjoon laughs at him. “Aren’t you too young to complain this much?”

Yuto succeeds in standing up and looks down at him, still panting. “You’re not tired?”

 _My hearts beating so fast right now I think it might explode._ “I could do this in my sleep.”

He jumps to his feet, and Yuto gapes at him. It makes the agony almost worth it. Almost.

Jaeyoung shows up a while later, after a few more run-throughs, when their shirts have started sticking to them and the glass panel of the door has started to steam up.

“Hey, I brought those things you-” his voice cuts off with a surprised gasp as they lunge for him, snatching the bag from his hands at the same time and dropping to the floor. 

Seungjoon tears the wrapper of an ice cream and unceremoniously bites off half of it, groaning as he feels the ice melting on his tongue. Yuto holds a plastic cup full of ice to his forehead and sighs.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” Seungjoon says around a mouthful of ice cream.

Jaeyoung rolls his eyes and sits beside them. “Only when you want something.”

“Well, I love you,” Seungjoon sighs. 

“I love you too,” Yuto says, making Jaeyoung glance at him in surprise and Seungjoon throw his heads back with laughter.

“This is Jaeyoung,” Seungjoon says.

_I thought you two would get along, so I'm using him. Maybe you'll agree to my plan faster if he's involved._

“He dances too.”

Yuto’s mouth drops open cutely. “No way!” 

Jaeyoung waves his hands in front of himself as if deflecting something. “I’m not as good as Joon.”

Seungjoon reminds himself to be nice to Jaeyoung later. He can tell the younger boy is just registering the fact that he’d complimented Seungjoon without thinking about the consequences, and is now very much regretting talking him up to Yuto in case it helps him win the bet, but there’s nothing to do now. It’s been said, and Yuto’s shaking his head and insisting it must just be Jaeyoung being humble.

“Hey,” Seungjoon cries. “Are you saying you think he’s better than me?”

“Wha-no, I’ve never even seen him dance!”

Jaeyoung rolls his eyes and slaps Seungjoon’s arm. “He’s kidding,” he tells Yuto. 

“We used to be in the same crew,” Seungjoon says, just to see Jaeyoung reminisce, unable to resist giving Seungjoon a warm smile. “He used to go by Wyatt-”

“And Seungjoon still goes by J-Us,” Jaeyoung finishes. “But I guess you already know that.”

It’s in Seungjoon’s instagram handle. He hadn’t been able to resist using it again. It's easier to dance like he's someone else.

“Are you a dance major too?”

“Hmm? Oh, no, I study music production.” Jaeyoung wiggles his fingers as if playing keyboard in the air, and Yuto gives a soft ‘oooh’ of understanding, sounding impressed.

“I told him you’d been choreographing for a group,” Seungjoon tells Yuto. “And being the overachiever he is, most of his work for the semester is already done.”

“So I have time to help out,” Jaeyoung finishes. “If you need another person.”

The way he says it, it sounds as if the only thing on Jaeyoung’s mind is being the kindest, most helpful person in the world, because he has a heart of gold and too much time on his hands, but Seungjoon hides a smile. He knows all of the blackmail material he’d had to pull to get Jaeyoung to agree to this. He’d been nagging and bargaining and guilt-tripping Jaeyoung for days.

“Thanks,” Yuto says, then glances at Seungjoon and winces, as if he’d did something wrong. “But Seungjoon’s helped out so much already that it’s kind of done, now.”

Good. This is going as planned. Now he just needs to sound enthusiastic enough about dancing again that he can get Yuto to agree.

Mustering all of the energy he has left into his voice, Seungjoon says: “How about _I_ teach _you_ something then?” He pushes himself to his feet and jumps a few times, lightly on the tips of his toes, shaking out his tired limbs. 

Yuto blinks up at him slowly. “Wha-now?”

Jaeyoung sighs. He says his rehearsed line as if the idea had just occurred to him: “Is this about that busking slot-”

“Yup!”

Yuto looks between them. “Like, a live performance?”

Seungjoon twists his sly smile into something more innocent and excited as he turns back to Yuto. “Someone bailed on us,” he lies. It’s always just him and Jaeyoung. “Think you can keep up?” Yuto buffers, and he adds, “You’d be doing us a favour.”

It seals the deal- he can see the exact moment Yuto decides to agree playing out over his expression. The younger boy had been thanking him so often Seungjoon had began to wonder how much he'd do to repay him. He guesses this is him finding out.

“Sure,” the smaller boy says, letting Seungjoon pull him to his feet. “I haven’t danced in front of a real audience in a while. I should pay you back for all your help-”

“Enough of that,” Seungjoon sighs, waving Yuto’s words away. “I helped ‘cause I wanted to.”

It's partly true.

Yuto smiles at him, a shy upturning of his lips turning into a bolder grin, and Seungjoon laughs and crosses his arms over his chest. “How about it, then? You in?”

His plan depends on a yes, if it’s going to have the full desired effect. He doesn’t have to worry for long before Yuto’s nodding, though.

“I’m in.”

**

Hyojin yelps as a sudden weight flings itself onto his back, crushing his stomach into the sofa he’d been laying peacefully on with an exhausted grunt.

“Get off,” he whines, swatting at Seungjoon as best he can at the awkward angle. “You weigh a tonne!”

Seungjoon groans loudly and flips onto his back, still laying on top of Hyojin, managing to catch Hyojin with both of his elbows as he twists. He laughs sadistically at Hyojin’s pained moans.

“Tell me why I came up with this plan,” Seungjoon moans. “I hurt in places I didn’t think I _could_ hurt.”

Hyojin chuckles and shoves him onto the floor with one sudden, cruel jab to Seungjoon’s side. He peaks down at the spot on the carpet where Seungjoon now lies groaning, clutching at his sides, and smiles wickedly. “The gym not treating you very well?”

“It feels like I’ve been pushed through a pasta machine,” Seungjoon mumbles. “I can’t feel my anything.”

Hyojin rolls his eyes despite the fact that he’s obviously smiling at Seungjoon’s dramatics. “It was your idea.”

“I know,” Seungjoon sighs. “Remind me to never have one of those again.”

“Has Yuto been singing your praises to Minkyun?”

“He better be, the little bastard. I’ve been working my ass off to help him finish this dance.”

Hyojin narrows his eyes at him. “How exactly do you have time to help someone else?” He asks, suspicion in his voice, and Seungjoon starts trying very desperately to avoid his eye. “Shouldn’t you be working on your own school work?”

“I’ll get to it.” He gasps as a pillow comes flying towards his face, just managing to catch it in time to avoid a possible black eye. Hyojin is surprisingly strong for someone so small.

“There has to be an easier way to get Yuto to like you.”

“Sweating it out in a practice room is the fastest way to bond, I’ve found.”

He’s only talking about Jaeyoung, but Hyojin still feels a familiar pull of sadness at his words. He hasn’t danced with them in so long. It isn’t something he and Seungjoon do together anymore. Would Seungjoon feel closer to him if they still did that?

“You’re pushing yourself too much,” Hyojin tell him, pushing away the thought.

“I’m fine,” Seungjoon says, and then immediately dissolves into agonsied groans as he pulls himself up onto the other sofa. Hyojin shakes his head, laughing. “I needed the practice anyway.”

Hyojin disagrees silently, biting his tongue. Seungjoon’s already exhausted enough without his nagging.

A beat or two passes with just the sound of their even breathing, and then Seungjoon shuffles onto his side to peer at Hyojin.

“You still coming to watch me dance on friday?”

Hyojin shrugs as if he’s still thinking about it. “I’m going for Jaeyoung but sure, I’ll probably be there.”

“Bring Minkyun,” Seungjoon tells him, and hears a scoff in return.

“So you can show off? Why would I agree to that?”

“Either you invite him or I do,” Seungjoon shrugs. “So are you going to pass up on the opportunity to spend time with him and leave him with me, or are you going to invite him?”

Hyojin wonders whether Minkyun would really accept an invite from Seungjoon if he asked right now. They’ve hardly interacted, and Seungjoon would have to ask him through Yuto. But he still remembers Minkyun’s expression at the bar, when Hyojin had been away from the table, and could see every glance Minkyun threw Seungjoon’s way. 

He sighs. “Fine. We’ll both be there, then.”

Seungjoon flashes him a sly grin. “Perfect.”


	7. Tick, Tock

Friday arrives too soon. Hyojin wakes up with doubts he can’t shake as he showers, ties a band around his wrist and tries on every piece of clothing he owns before settling on his usual jeans and hoodie, leaving the apartment before the others wake up. He takes Jay with him- he wishes he could say it’s a tactical decision, because Minkyun will be so much more willing to visit his studio for the cat, and not him, but really it’s a comfort thing. He needs something to take care of, to distract him. 

Jay meows up at him as Hyojin lets himself into the studio he rents, padding over the desk to settle curled up against one of Hyojin’s arms, just in the crook of his elbow where it rests on the table. 

There are things he needs to work on, files he desperately wants to organise, but he forces himself first to take a few calming breaths, humming through a few keys to warm up his voice. He doesn’t plan on doing any singing so early in the morning, but it helps him relax into his routine, and eases the nervous coil in his gut. Jay makes a soft keening sound as if sensing his anxiety, moving to Hyojin’s hand and scratching him whenever he tries to move his fingers closer to the computer keyboard.

Hyojin sighs, but it’s not like he’d expected to get a lot of work done anyway. Even if Jay let him use both of his hands, he’d be too distracted to focus on the audio files he’d been fiddling with recently. A glance at the clock shows him the hour as seven in the morning- he has at least ten hours, then, to focus. 

Minkyun had agreed to drop by after his classes had ended; Hyojin had made sure that if he was going to be complacent in whatever Seungjoon’s plan for tonight is, and bring Minkyun along, he could at least get an hour or two in before the performance to spend just the two of them. And Jay. The two of them and Jay.

But he keeps glancing at the clock. He’ll get lost in an audio clip, or recording, for a while and then come to staring at the moving minute hand, willing another hour to pass. He skips lunch not as a conscious decision, but because he’s too preoccupied in being distracted and trying not to be distracted that he completely forgets to eat. 

Tick tock, tick tock. He tries to record a verse he’d been unhappy with again. Tick tock. Jay scratches his arm until Hyojin gives him some attention. Another hour. The files on his usually chaotically messy computer have been sorted chronologically from his first project to his most recent ones and renamed with titles more useful than the series of random numbers and letters they'd been before. Four o’clock. Five.

His phone lights up with a text and he scrambles for it so quickly, Jay hisses at him.

_It’s still cool if I drop by?_

Hyojin sends a reply that he hopes sounds less eager than he feels and hurries to tidy the stray papers, old snack wrappers, and pile of Jay’s toys now strewn around the small room as fast as he can. He leaves to grab a coffee, and when he returns, it’s only a matter of minutes before there’s a cheery knock at the door, and he opens it to see Minkyun grinning down at him.

“Come in,” Hyojin says, plastering on a smile, leading the younger boy in by the arm and closing the door softly behind them. He indicates the second steaming styrofoam cup by the computer. “I got you a coffee.”

Minkyun makes a surprised noise at the back of his throat and steps towards it. “You didn’t have to-”

“I owed you one,” Hyojin reminds him. “I told you to let me spoil you last time, didn’t I?”

Minkyun just laughs, and then his eyes go around the room and he spots Jay, who’d leaped onto Hyojin’s chair as soon as he’d stood up. With a gasp, Minkyun steps lightly over to the chair and crouches, greeting Jay with a soft voice that makes the kitten meow and watch him intently as he speaks.

Hyojin leans back against the door, smiling. It’s hard to be annoyed that Minkyun has all but forgotten him when he’s watching him be so gentle, so kind as he lets Jay sniff at his hand long enough for the cat to remember him, and then Jay is nudging at him with his head and Minkyun’s giggling and scooping him into the air.

Minkyun turns to face Hyojin though his eyes don’t rise from the kitten in his arms. “You didn’t tell me Jay would be here.”

“I thought it would be a nice surprise.”

In answer, Minkyun grins widely down at the little fluffball curling against his chest and holds it a little tighter. 

“Sit,” Hyojin tells him, spinning the now empty chair for Minkyun to take, pushing the boy down into it by his shoulders when he protests. Hyojin pulls up a smaller stool and squeezes it into the space between Minkyun’s chair and the wall.

“How was school?”

There’s a slight grimace before Minkyun shrugs. “Slow.”

“Couldn’t wait to see me?”

Shit. Why did he say that? It's something he'd say to Seungjoon, a throwaway tease, but Minkyun doesn't know him well enough to know he was just joking.

“The wait would have been worse if I knew Jay was waiting for me, too,” Minkyun’s saying, giving the cat a treat from the few Hyojin had placed on the desk. Jay hadn’t touched them, but now Minkyun is the one offering the food, he takes it. Traitor.

But- wait. Had that been agreement? _It would have been worse._ That means he’d admitted it, right? That his day had been slow because he was waiting for the time they’d planned to meet. Unless Hyojin is misunderstanding him. He’s probably misunderstanding him.

“Drink your coffee.”

Minkyun accepts the styrofoam cup Hyojin pushes his way with a smile.

“You didn’t have to pay me back.”

Hyojin fiddles with the plastic top of his own drink. “I know. Have you eaten?” Minkyun shakes his head no. “Want to go get street food after this?”

“Sure.”

In a way, Hyojin had been hoping Minkyun would refuse. He’s hungry, and the idea of spending more time with Minkyun sends an excited thrill through him, but this isn’t part of his plan. It’s Seungjoon’s, just a way for Hyoijn to bring Minkyun along to see Seungjoon’s usual late-night performance and whatever else he has planned. Hyojin tries to smother the irritated nervousness he feels at the idea by focusing on all of the time he gets to spend with Minkyun.

“So,” he sighs, and Minkyun across at him. “What d’you want to do?” 

The younger boy tips his head, humming as he considers the tiny studio around them. “What were you doing before I got here?”

_Almost nothing. Trying not to be too nervous._

“I release a few covers a month. I was finishing recording one of them.” He pulls the computer mouse towards him, Minkyun’s eyes following the movement, and pulls up his files to show a folder entitled ‘covers2020.’

Minkyun gives him an askance look. “Do I get to hear it?”

There’s a slight, cheeky smile on his lips, as if he expects the question to be met with a self-conscious rejection, something he can laugh at. It makes Hyojin bolder.

“Sure.” He tries to hold his laughter as Minkyun turns to look at him quickly, blinking, his eyes a little wide.

“You-you’re not nervous showing people your work?”

“It gets easier,” Hyojin shrugs.

Minkyun sighs with so much feeling, Jay startles and bolts to the floor. “I hope that’s true.”

It’s not. Hyojin’s leg bounces uncontrollably under the desk. He passes the mouse to Minkyun and lets him open whatever file he chooses. The impressed, awed look this gets him almost makes it worth it. Almost.

“This one.”

Minkyun selects one of the newer files seemingly at random, not looking at the screen long enough to read their titles, and the audio clip opens up to fill the screen. Minkyun presses play.

It’s one from last month, a smooth R&B beat the only thing backing Hyojin’s voice, the almost lazy kind of sentimental Hyojin had been listening to that month and had wanted to try. He hates it the least, out of most of the covers Minkyun could have picked. 

Minkyun listens to it silently, letting the audio run, pulling his feet up onto the chair and folding his arms around his legs, his knees to his chest. 

Hyojin focuses on the music so he doesn’t need to focus on anything else. The line that had bothered him when he’d been recording plays, and he winces, thinking about how he would do it differently now, letting himself get lost in the tiny details of sound, swaying slightly to the beat. When it stops, the room is far too quiet.

Jay keens when Hyojin picks him up, needing something to do. Minkyun presses the replay button and the audio starts again from the beginning.

“ _Again_?”

“I liked it!” Minkyun protests.

At least it isn’t one of his own songs. Hyojin reminds himself of that again and again as he watches Minkyun bob to the music. It doesn’t really ease the nervousness- what does, however, is Minkyun starting to quietly sing along in between sips of coffee.

He’s not really trying, and his voice is only just loud enough to be heard over the volume he plays the song at. But Hyojin can’t help but stare.

Even here, in the harsh yellow lighting of a tiny, whitewashed studio, he can see the change in Minkyun as he sings. He’s abandoned his coffee, stopped fidgeting and shifting around in his chair, forgotten about Jay, and Hyojin now too, as he taps the beat on his knee and lets his voice follow the tune, deeper than Hyojin’s and softer. He plays around with the melody lazily, skipping and missing beats and hurrying to catch up, making the song his own. When Hyojin joins in, harmonising in places he thinks he can guess what Minkyun’s going to do, the younger boy smiles, his eyes still focussed on the computer screen, and lets him. The audio ends, and Hyojin plays another, just to see what Minkyun will do with it, letting it run a second time in the hopes that Minkyun will join in. He doesn’t, but he tells Hyojin excitedly when it’s over of a song it reminds him of, and they lose themselves down a rabbit hole for a while, song after song after song played with some loose connections, talking over the tracks, discussing how they’d make covers, what they like about the original too much to change, anything they can think of, until Hyojin glances at the clock and curses.

Minkyun jumps. “What?”

“Nothing- I just realised how late it is.” He stands up, stretching his arms over his head and hunting Jay down. “You must be hungry.”

Minkyun shrugs, but it’s less convincing than he’d wanted it to be when it’s immediately followed by the sound of his stomach rumbling. Hyojin laughs, and pulls on his jacket.

“Come on,” he says, reaching across to turn the computer off. His arm brushes Minkyun’s, making the younger boy shiver at the ticklish sensation and get to his feet. 

“My treat.”

Minkyun argues with him like Hyojin knew he would, but quiets down considerably when Hyojin passes him Jay, and they leave the studio together, stepping out into the dark streets and feeling a chillier cold hit them outside the warmth of the studio.

“Where are we going?” Minkyun asks.

Hyojin sighs. “You’ll see,” he says, as he starts to lead them to the block where he knows Seungjoon’s waiting for them. 


	8. Friends

Hyojin spends a good half hour contemplating betrayal. As he and Minkyun leave the studio and hunt down some of the better food trucks, Hyojin is glancing at his phone screen so many times Minkyun has started bouncing up and down anxiously beside him. He's too polite to ask what Hyojin's staring at the clock for, which is really a blessing, because Hyojin wouldn't know how to begin to explain what's going on in his head right now.

Here's the thing: he'd agreed to bring Minkyun to the particular block Seungjoon usually performs on. He'd said he would. Probably. He hadn't made any promises.

If they don't show, Seungjoon can't really blame him. It's just bad for his chances, to show up and let Minkyun soak in all of Seungjoon's streetlight glory, when he's in his prime, infinitely more comfortable and cool and effortless than Hyojin has been in this dumb contest. They could just part ways, and Hyojin could go and support Seungjoon alone like he's always done. 

Or they could go. And Hyojin might ruin his chances, but at least it'd be quick. He'd be able to see Minkyun's reaction to Seungjoon in his natural habitat, a late night street lit in neon and flooding with music, and that'd be that. He wouldn't have to worry about Seungjoon inviting Minkyun to a performance by himself, where Hyojin would miss his reaction, and he'd see whether Minkyun would still pay him any attention when J-Us was a few feet away. 

In the end, they show up late. 

Hyojin's not heartless enough to miss a show, but he's debated not showing up just enough that they miss the set up, and round the corner to find music already blasting, three figures already dancing under the glow of one streetlight.

Wait- three?

Minkyun gapes at his side.

"That's-Yuto? What is _Yuto_ doing here?"

Hyojin had just recognised the small, lithe figure of the third boy dancing across the street when Minkyun is gasping his name, and he turns to the caramel-haired boy at his side, almost dropping the sweet bread he’d just treated himself to in his haste.

“You didn’t know he’d be here?”

Minkyun’s eyes remain locked on the dancers as they approach, and he shakes his head. “No, he didn’t tell me. He said he was at the gym last time I called…”

They reach the crowd that’s already gathered around the dancing, in a semicircle between two stereos Jaeyoung had bought with his first paycheck and Seungjoon had immediately put to use, when he’d somehow always managed to persuade the two of them to join in on whatever he had planned. They started as freestylers, just doing whatever they could to chase away their boredom- and, looking back, to please Seungjoon, because he’d always be so happy when they humoured him- but eventually he’d start giving them orders, places to go, spots to fill in songs he’d been obsessing over. Hyojin got shy, Jaeyoung didn’t. Now it’s just the two of them under the streetlights, though Hyojin is always guilted into coming along to watch.

Now, he watches someone else, as the music blares through the asphalt and the streetlights flicker warmly down on them. Minkyun’s eyes trail across the three of them at first, still wide as he watches Yuto, but then the song stops, and the planned portion of the performance ends, as it always does. Minkyun claps along enthusiastically with the rest of the crowd, probably thinking the music is about to be turned off and the dancers will disperse. But Hyojin just waits. 

Jaeyoung fiddles with his phone and another track begins, faster and somehow louder than the last. The crowd draw closer again, intrigued, their disappointment halted, and even Yuto, still at Seungjoon’s side, looks curious. Some performances might have stopped when they ran out of choreography, but not tonight’s. Hyojin knows how stressed classes and the promise of finals he isn’t prepared for is making Seungjoon, and he’d known that even if they did show up late for the performance he’d planned, there would always be more to watch.

Seungjoon jumps a few times in place, shaking out his arms, then his legs, rolling his neck and shoulders, the sly, easy smile on his lips visible even from where Minkyun and Hyojin stand, at the edge of the crowds. It’s all for show, Hyojin knows, and he almost rolls his eyes at the gestures- all three boys are already sweating, Jaeyoung in particular looking out of breath and heavy as he watches Seungjoon warm up. Whatever they’d been dancing to before they’d arrived must have been more intense than the usual stuff- Hyojin really should check in on Seungjoon some time. 

“What’re they doing now?” Minkyun asks, and Hyojin jumps a foot into the air, clutching at the bread he’s holding with a vice-like grip to stop it flying through the air and hitting some poor innocent bystander in the crowd.

“Freestyle, probably,” he says, and then wonders whether he shouldn’t have. Is that more impressive than choreography? Minkyun’s excited expression seems to say so. He should really watch what he says. Anything he says about Seungjoon should be carefully thought over before he unwittingly mentions something that’d make him sound cooler than he actually is.

“D’they do this often?”

“When they have the time. I used to do it with them.”

Clapping and shrill screams of encouragement start up from the crowd, but Minkyun turns to look at Hyojin quickly, ignoring them, and missing the moment Seungjoon begins to move. His eyes are saucer-wide. “You did?”

“Is that really so surprising?” Hyojin lilts. 

“No,” Minkyun laughs, “just...that…”

He trails off, and Hyojin’s eyes wander sadly across his transfixed expression. Minkyun’s gaze has snagged on the figure now surrounded by cheering crowds, and there’s something awed and surprised in his expression, something enchanted. Hyojin sighs, already knowing what he’ll see when he follows Minkyun’s eye.

“Pretty good, right?” he asks, wondering whether Minkyun will even hear him.

But the younger boy laughs breathily. His eyes remain glued to the dancer the other side of the crowds. “He’s amazing.” He gasps, and Hyojin can’t help but look, too. 

Seungjoon’s hat is shoved down to cover most of his face, the _J-US_ signature sprawled there bright against the black of his clothes, completely absorbed in the music, seemingly unaware of the crowd that hollers and howls as he dances, contorts and twists to every beat, almost too quick to follow.

And Hyojin forgets, for a moment, that he isn’t supposed to agree. 

“Yeah. Yeah he is.”

The crowd is so energetic now that when Seungjoon passes the dance on to Yuto, the smaller boy jumps straight into the fray, losing all of the self-consciousness Minkyun would expect him to feel in front of such a large group of rowdy strangers. Hyojin cups his hands around his mouth and screams, loud enough for the two of them, and Minkyun collapses into happy giggles, yelling encouragements as well, as Yuto dances and pulls Jaeyoung into the song too, the three dancers once again moving to the same music. Minkyun’s eyes keep going back to Seungjoon, but he’s not the only one. Hyojin can’t blame him. It doesn’t help the heavy pit in his stomach, though, whenever he glances at the younger boy and sees his enthralled expression, mouth slightly open as wide eyes focus on only one of the three boys under the streetlights.

The song ends too quickly and not fast enough, and the crowds clap and screech as Seungjoon laughs and bows, exaggeratedly, clapping Jaeyoung on the back. Yuto beams at the two other dancers, and Seungjoon laughs at him, too, and grabs him, jostling him and jumping around, until Yuto is screeching and yelling at him to stop with a grin as wide as Minkyun’s. Hyojin smiles.

Then Minkyun asks “Does your friend not like me very much?”

It’s so sudden, Hyojin spends a few moments staring blankly at Minkyun’s nonchalant expression until his brain catches up. “What?”

Minkyun is already waving a hand through the air, grinning wide enough for the streetlights to catch on his teeth, making him look even more catlike than usual. “Nothing,” he shrugs. “It’s nothing.”

Hyojin looks back to the dancers as the crowd starts to disperse. Seungjoon has one arm around Yuto’s shoulders, both of them smiling like maniacs and laughing at something Jaeyoung is telling them. 

“Oh.” 

What should he say? He doesn’t want to talk up Seungjoon at the risk of losing this stupid bet- Seungjoon wouldn’t do the same, in his place. But they’re friends. They’ve been friends longer than Hyojin cares to remember. The instinct is still there, to gush and compliment and clear up every misunderstanding that arises from Seungjoon’s strange aloofness, how he never seems to care about the people around him outside of their little bubble.

“It’s not that,” Hyojin finds himself saying. God. He really needs to stop being so nice, it’s getting him nowhere.

Minkyun frowns a little, still watching Seungjoon lean close to Yuto and whisper something in his ear. “You’re sure?”

“Of course.” Hyojin beams up at the younger boy, and hopes it looks sincere. “Who wouldn’t like you, Minkyun?”

Before Minkyun can reply, the others are skipping up towards them, Seungjoon’s arms slung around the other boys’ shoulders, all of them looking spent and blissed out and sweaty.

Hyojin scrunches up his nose. “It’s a good thing you don’t have classes tomorrow,” he says, talking to all of them at once, though Seungjoon seems to take it personally and rolls his eyes. “You look like you’re about to pass out.” He yelps as Seungjoon topples onto him, Jaeyoung thrusting the boy off his shoulders and onto someone significantly smaller and weaker than him with a wicked grin.

Seungjoon giggles as Hyojin tries to steady him, already latching onto his new carrier as if Hyojin were a huge, pink-haired teddy bear.

“Worth it,” he sighs.

“I really am looking forward to the ‘passing out’ part, though,” Jaeyoung adds. “We should get home.”

Hyojin shoves Seungjoon away from him and glances at Yuto, who’s shyly hanging back now the music has stopped. “Can you get home by yourself?”

Yuto nods sagely. “Minkyun can take me.”

When Hyojin raises a brow at him, Minkyun shrugs, just managing to drag his eyes away from Seungjoon on time to catch Hyojin’s questioning look.

“Yeah. Sure, I can take him.”

Hyojin swallows a spike of disappointment. All that effort, and he’s still fighting for the smallest scrap of Minkyun’s attention.

But the others start wandering back to the loft, and Yuto waits patiently as Minkyun grabs the edge of Hyojin’s sleeve and grins down at him.

“I had fun,” he says, almost shyly. “I didn’t expect to make a friend like you, so…” he ends with a smile, slow and real, and Hyojin’s heart skips at least three beats.

“I had fun too. Get home safe.”

Friend. Friends with Minkyun, friends with Seungjoon, too nice to say anything that’d ruin Seungjoon’s chances, too nice to do anything to that’d sway Minkyun. No risks, nothing suave and smooth up his sleeve, just waiting and hoping that _nice_ is enough. Friends. He curses the word all the way home.

The situation doesn't right itself when they get there. It’s Jaeyoung’s fault. He’s the one that starts rummaging in their liquor cupboards.

Hyojin, who’d put up with Seungjoon’s smug teasing the entire way home (“I just love having a _friend_ like you Hyojin!") is still feeling down on his luck, and had hoped to wallow in self pity alone in his room until sleep finally eased his suffering.

“It’s late,” he complains, “come on. Let’s just all go to bed-”

“Don’t be such a spoil-sport!” Jaeyoung laughs. “It’s tradition!”

They’d been so nervous the first few times they’d freestyled in front of a crowd- if that’s what it could be called, at the time- they’d all rushed home to find courage at the bottom of several very large bottles. Seungjoon and Jaeyoung still use it as an excuse to empty their drinks cabinet sometimes. It can’t really be called a tradition. 

Seungjoon seems just as enthusiastic, though.

“Yeah, Hyojin, live a little!” He pulls three glasses out of another cupboard before Hyojin can shove him aside and dunks ice cubes in two of them. One for him, one for Jaeyoung. Hyojin gets a coke and rum that splashes on the kitchen tiles as he tries to refuse it, and then reluctantly accepts.

“Only _one,”_ he reasons, feeling very selfless and fun as he compromises. The feeling starts to leave him as Seungjoon sets a playlist on shuffle and Jaeyoung hunts for Jay, and three glasses empty very quickly as they tease him and Jay prowls across the kitchen table and the clock keeps ticking closer to midnight. One drink turns into two, and two turns into three. Selfless and fun turns into vague irritation, and vague irritation turns into indignant disbelief.

“How can this happen to me?” Hyojin whines, not really drunk enough to act like this, but feeling the self pity weighing him down again as he flops onto Seunjoon’s bed as the dancer shuffles around his room. Jaeyoung has already retired to his own room, but that had never stopped them from staying up too late without him before, and Seungjoon doesn't look ready to sleep, either.

“You’re always so dramatic when you drink,” Seungjoon sighs, though there’s laughter in his voice, and when he looks over his shoulder to see Hyojin’s petulant frown he can’t help but grin.

“He couldn't take his eyes off you! What more do I have to do!”

“Telling you that wouldn’t exactly benefit me, would it?” Seungjoon chuckles, confirming Hyojin’s suspicion that if their places had been reversed, Seungjoon wouldn’t have been as nice to Hyojin, would never have spoken kind words about him to Minkyun. It’s to be expected, but it still makes Hyojin feel childishly affronted.

“How am I supposed to win this anyway? We didn’t even set any rules.”

Seungjoon shrugs out of his shirt and frowns. “Rules?”

“Like, what constitutes as winning? I spent the day with him. He texts me now.”

“On facebook,” Seungjoon points out, rummaging through his drawers for an old t-shirt. “You didn’t get his number.”

Hyojin scoff. “Why does that matter?” he protests, voice high with indignation. “Isn’t it the same thing?”

Pulling the shirt over his head, Seungjoon hums thoughtfully. “What did he say when you asked for his number again? It sounded like a rejection to me.”

“Like you would’ve done better,” Hyojin mutters. 

“Well, what do you think winning should be?”

Hyojin thinks about it for a long moment, then sighs. “I don’t know...a date?”

The noise of acknowledgement Seungjoon gives to this sounds dissatisfied. “People go on dates with more than one person all the time. That wouldn't mean he'd chosen one of us over the other. How about a kiss?”

Hyojin drains the remains of a cocktail he’d for some reason let Seungjoon pour him and doesn’t talk again until the room stops spinning. “Why?”

“It’s easier than a date,” Seungjoon shrugs.

“It is?”

Seungjoon smiles slyly. He cooes, and Hyojin swats at his arm as he tries to squeeze his cheek. “Aw, Jin. Remind me why you thought you’d win this, again?”

“Get off.”

Seungjoon gasps as Hyojin pokes him in the ribs, and backs away. “Ok, Ok.”

“Fine," Hyojin cries, too tired and annoyed to think on it further. "A kiss it is. Just remember it was your idea if this ridiculous bet ends up lasting another three months or something.”

“He does seem kind of wary around strangers,” Seungjoon muses, nodding. Hyojin doesn’t tell him about the question Minkyun had asked about him.

The younger boy starts unloading a pile of creased trousers and shorts from his dresser, throwing half on top of Hyojin, and then starting to refold them and replace them in the now empty drawer. It’s another one of his habits that only shows when he’s too in his head, and Hyojin watches him fuss over his room with a small frown, but doesn’t say anything.

“It’s not gonna take months,” Seungjoon says quietly, and Hyojin pulls his attention back to their conversation, confused for a moment before he remembers what he’d just said.

“If you’re so confident, you should have no problem helping me out.”

Seungjoon just laughs at him. “You don’t need my help, Hyojin.”

The bed creaks as Hyojin leans over to place his empty glass on the floor and then buries his face in Seungjoon’s pillow, huffing. “You teased me all the way home about that ‘friend’ line.”

“Because it was hilarious,” Seungjoon replies, laughing a little as he remembers Hyojin’s furious expression.

“I’m not supposed to be making friends!”

Seungjoon shrugs as if it’s the simplest thing in the world. “Then stop acting so friendly.”

“I’m not like you, Joon,” he whines, voice high in his irritation. Seungjoon groans- he’s had too much experience with this side of Hyojin to not know where this is heading. “I don’t know how to be all cool and attractive and detached.”

Seungjoon looks down at him with a frown, pausing with a half-folded pair of jeans in his hands. “Detached?”

“Like in a cool way,” Hyojin says. His words almost slur. Maybe the drinks are starting to catch up to him. “I’m just like the friend you talk about guys with because you'll never think of him that way.”

“Just sing to him or something,” Seungjoon sighs, annoyance just starting to leak into his voice. He shoves the jeans to the back of a drawer and snatches another pair from the bed. 

"I’ve already _used_ that card,” Hyojin groans. He flops onto his back and covers his face with one of Seungjoon’s cushions, feeling a little drunk and frustrated and slightly confused about why he’s telling Seungjoon all of this, but being unable to stop. The words come out naturally, after being held in for so long, after an entire day of wanting to scream them at the top of his lungs. “I’m tired of being just the _nice_ one. The boy next door never beats the mysterious bad boy, everyone _knows_ that already!”

Seungjoon throws the shorts he’d been folding into the drawer with a scoff. He turns around and grabs the cushion from over Hyojin’s face, startling him, and throws it aside. His other hand latches onto Hyojin’s wrist, holding it up to his face. He raises a brow, a voiceless question Hyojin doesn’t understand. 

He glances down at Seungjoon’s hand, the fingers curled atop the bandana Hyojin had tied around his wrist. “What?”

Seungjoon shakes his arm a little. “You think this is _boy next door_? Bandanas and hidden tattoos?”

Hyojin shrugs, uncertain, feeling small with Seungjoon hovering above him, still holding his arm, frowning.

"Is...is something wrong?"

Seungjoon scoffs again and releases him. “You’re ridiculous.”

There’s a funny feeling in the pit of Hyojin’s stomach. “I don’t even know if he likes tattoos.”

Seungjoon’s already turning away, shaking his head. “Everyone likes tattoos, Jin.”

The feeling of fingertips digging into his skin persists as Hyojin lowers his arm.

“But I don’t like revealing it,” he says quietly. He stars up at the ceiling as he toys with the knot at his wrist, slipping a finger under the fabric as if he can feel the ink on his skin. The idea of having it out in the open makes him shiver. He’s had nightmares about it- of someone ripping the wrist band or bandanna away, dozens of eyes staring down at the pattern etched into his wrist. It’s a strange fear, but he can’t shake it. It feels like walking around naked, without it covered.

“Then something else,” Seungjoon says impatiently, only half paying attention, shoving the rest of his clothes, unfolded, into a drawer. “Your red hair, or something. That was hot, wasn’t it?”

Hyojin looks up at him. “Was it?”

His eyes search Seungjoon’s back, his shoulders, trying to get any hint about the expression he can’t see, but Seungjoon just shrugs.

“How should I know? I’m not Minkyun.”

Hyojin goes back to staring at the ceiling. “Right. Yeah.”

Friends. Since when had he started to hate that word?


	9. Slip ups

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (there should be a photo right at the beginning of this chapter, but sometimes archive takes them away, so if you cant see an image pls let me know so i can correct it! xx)

**Hyojin**

Hey look

He’s upgraded to pigeon whisperer now

Im so proud

**Seungjoon**

God

Stop texting and get him away from that rat with wings before it actually lets him touch it

**Hyojin**

Dont worry jay just scared them away

**Seungjoon**

Damn… here i was hoping that waking up to a cat free loft meant youd given the little bastard up for adoption

**Hyojin**

Just keep denying youre getting fond of him joon

Ive known you for a long time you know

**Seungjoon**

Uh huh

Where are the two of you right now

**Hyojin**

Ha 

Nice try

  
  


* * *

“Who’re you texting?”

Seungjoon looks up from his phone screen with a start, Jaeyoung laughing a little at his surprise as the younger boy enters the living room and curls up on the other sofa.

“Hyojin.”

“Oh,” Jaeyoung says, nodding, as if this makes sense. Seungjoon wants to ask what his expression had been holding when Jaeyoung had spotted him, to make him ask, why he seemed unsurprised to find out it was Hyojin. Instead, he chucks his phone onto the sofa as he stands, and locks himself in a bathroom, letting the shower cubicle overflow with heavy steam as the water scalds his back. He aches, and already the aggravated itch is back under his skin, the restlessness he’d chased away the night before returning in all its agonising glory.

He heads out the door without a plan, shrugging on a light jacket as he wanders the streets. His thoughts keep spiralling back to their conversation, and after a while of trying to ignore it, he obeys the temptation to dig out his phone again and study every inch of the photograph Hyojin had sent. On a hunch, he heads down a tangle of alleyways.

Hyojin curses from a round wooden table as he turns a corner.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Seungjoon smirks, but casts his eyes around them. “Where is he?”

The familiar parasolled round tables and parking lot lie empty around them, and Jay is snoozing by the umbrella in the middle of their table, but there’s no sign of a grinning caramel-haired boy in any direction.

“Inside getting drinks, how did you know where we were?”

Seungjoon gives a disinterested shrug. “It was you that sent the photo.”

“...Have you been following us?”

“It’s your favourite tea place, Jin,” Seungjoon laughs, “it really wasn’t that hard to find you.”

Hyojin scowls at him, and Seungjoon raises a hand to ruffle the bubblegum curls of his hair when the cafe door swings open and Minkyun steps out with a tray. His arm drops limply to his side. 

Minkyun smiles at him, but it’s not the wide, all-consuming grin he slips into when he takes a spot on the bench beside Hyojin.

“Your order is served!” he chirps, and Seunjoon sits at the table as Minkyun places a cup and saucer in front of Hyojin before he takes his own. A minty scent wafts under Seungjoon’s nose- they’d ordered the same tea. He doesn’t know why that makes him want to put his head through a wall, but it does.

“You’re not getting anything?”

It’s Hyojin’s voice, and Seungjoon can’t decide whether he actually cares if Seungjoon eats lunch or whether it’s just an excuse to get him away from the table. It doesn’t matter; Minkyun eyes him, and he’s out of his seat before he realises he’s made the decision already. Coffee. He needs coffee.

Hyojin’s laughter floats through the cafe doors as he waits, and when he steps back out into the sunlight it hits him in full, bright, loud bubbles of sound, and he spots Hyojin covering his face with both hands, cheeks red with laughter, and Minkyun, now a few feet from their table. He’s crouching, inching towards a pigeon with a biscuit outstretched in one hand. 

Seungjoon throws himself into the air and slams his feet back onto the ground- Minkyun gives an almighty shriek as the pigeon takes off into the air. Hyojin almost falls off of the bench with laughter.

Minkyun turns to see Seungjoon stepping back up to their table with a smug smile. “You scared it away!”

“It’s dirty, leave it alone.”

Minkyun pouts, and slinks back to their table. Seungjoon sits and drinks half of his iced coffee in one go. Hyojin casually spins his saucer around and Seungjoon takes the little complimentary biscuit Hyojin always gets with his tea but never eats, just like they do every time they come here.

Minkyun eyes them carefully.

“I didn’t know you were gonna be there last night,” Seungjoon says nonchalantly, as if it weren’t a massive lie and he can’t see Hyojin contemplate killing him. “Did Yuto call you or something?”

Minkyun looks up from his teacup to see Seungjoon’s talking to him and coughs. “Uh- no, I didn’t know he’d be there.”

Hyojin bites the inside of his cheek but plays his part anyway: “We were just passing by when we spotted you.”

“Huh.” Hyojin watches Seungjoon nod as if wondering at the odd coincidence and waits for the rest of his plan to drop. There has to be a reason he’d brought up the performance. “I hear you dance, too.”

There it is.

“Not really.”

Seungjoon tips his head to peer closer at Minkyun’s shy expression, grinning. “ _Not really_ isn’t a no.”

Jay, still sleeping on the tabletop, starts to purr as Minkyun runs a hand over his fur, a distracted gesture he seems unconscious of. “I mean... I’ve messed around with Yuto once or twice, but I’m not a dancer.”

Hyojin huffs. “Stop trying to steal him,” he tells Seungjoon. Minkyun looks at him, surprised, but laughs. “There’s plenty of other people who could help you out.”

Minkyun raises a brow. “Help you?”

“I’m a dance major,” Seungjoon supplies helpfully.

“He’s struggling with his final assignment,” Hyojin adds, quickly, and Seungjoon glares at him with real annoyance. 

“Well I’m sure Yuto could help you come up with something! He keeps mentioning how nice you’ve been and how he wants to make it up to you.”

“He doesn’t need to do that,” Seungjoon shrugs. Suddenly, he’s grouchy- had that been a rejection? Minkyun had been quick to pass the opportunity on to Yuto without offering to help himself.

Minkyun takes a sip from his teacup and winces. It’s a barely-there reaction, but of course both Hyojin and Seungjoon notice, because they’re watching so closely.

“You OK?”

It’s Hyojin that says it, because Seungjoon’s too busy trying to think of a way to sound concerned but not too awkward. Hyojin’s better in situations like this, warmer, easier to give in to.

“Fine,” Minkyun smiles, but there’s a crease between his brows as he fights a frown, and Hyojin seems unconvinced.

“You don’t like the tea?” he asks, knowing that’s not it.

“No, no, I see why you like this place, it’s just...a little pain-” he taps his neck, then rushes on when he sees the concern on Hyojin’s face “-it’s nothing. Really, I’m fine.”

“Aren’t you singing tonight?” Seungjoon asks.

Both of them look at him, surprised.

 _Crap_. He shouldn’t know that.

“Uh, yeah…” Minkyun’s eyes flicker from Hyojin to Seungjoon and back, wide. He’s noticed the slip, and now he must be wondering how Seungjoon knows his schedule and why Seungjoon knows his schedule and whether it’s weird that Seungjoon knows his schedule. “It isn’t that bad. It was fine this morning.”

“Hyojin could cover for you.”

Hyojin coughs around a mouthful of tea and covers his mouth with one hand to stop himself spraying tea all over Seungjoon- even if he deserves it. 

It isn’t often Seungjoon finds Hyojin cute, after so many years growing up together, with every time Hyojin had proved to be _way_ stronger than he looks and every time Seungjoon had felt too young and uncertain in comparison to Hyojin’s usual decisive independence, but now as Hyojin looks across at him with round eyes slightly hidden under baby pink curls, he can’t help his smile.

“I could?”

Minkyun flaps his hands through the air, shaking his head. “You really don’t have to do that,” he reassures, and Hyojin, recovering a little from his shock, sees Seungjoon raise an eyebrow, and shrugs.

“No, I...I guess I could.”

He looks confused, like he’s trying to puzzle out the reason Seungjoon volunteered him. Seungjoon doesn’t have the heart to tell him it was just a natural reflex, because it had been a while since he’d heard Hyojin sing and he knows Hyojin’s kind enough to consider volunteering anyway, so he tries to go for a mysterious, secretive air as if it’d all just been part of his clever plan and not just another slip of the tongue.

“Really? You’d do that?”

This isn’t great, though. Now he’s just given Hyojin a free pass to appear selfless and dreamy and everything he’d been trying to be with Yuto, but now in a way that helps Minkyun directly, and isn’t just a good deed towards one of his friends that he’d hear about later.

“If you asked me, sure. I kind of do this for a living, after all. One song isn’t that big a deal.”

He means it too, and he’s sure he would have volunteered if it were anyone else. He’d been thinking he’d sound too eager when Seungjoon had made the offer for him, and now he can’t help but wonder why.

Is he going to come watch the show in the hopes of sharing a table with Minkyun, knowing Hyojin’s stuck on stage? But it’d only be one song. That can’t be it.

“That’s...really nice of you," Minkyun says.

Hyojin’s laugh is warm and soft as he bumps his shoulder against the younger boy's. “It’s not the first time I’ve stepped in for a sick friend, Kyun, don’t worry about it.”

“OK, well...my set’s at eight.”

“Your boss won’t mind me filing in?”

Minkyun shakes his head. “He’s a friend of Changyoon’s, so, I’m sure we can talk him into agreeing.”

“Are you going to come watch me?” Hyojin asks, feeling his stomach twist in nervousness. If Minkyun say no to this, Seungjoon will never let him forget it.

Luckily, though, Minkyun nods enthusiastically. “Of course! A sore throat isn’t enough to make me miss this.”

Seungjoon speaks quickly before Hyojin can reply- “We should invite Yuto and Changyoon too, if they’re free.”

Minkyun’s already pulling out his phone. “I can do that.”

“You’re starting to make me nervous,” Hyojin says, unsure which one of them he’s speaking too, and there’s a strange moment where they both laugh at him, closed mouthed and in sync, Minkyun sill staring down at his phone, Seungjoon sipping his coffee, as if this is something they do every day. There’s a sudden pang in his chest he tries to ignore.

“Don’t be nervous,” Minkyun cooes, smiling brightly. “I’m sure you’ll be great.”

“You always are.”

Hyojin can’t think of anything to say. Seungjoon gives him a questioning look, as if sensing something’s up, but he just shakes his head, trying to smile.

“I guess I should figure out what song I’m going to do,” he laughs.

“And I said I’d meet up with Yuto, so…” Minkyun gestures over his shoulder with his phone in an _I-should-get-going_ gesture, and they both nod in understanding.

“Meet you both at the bar?” Seungjoon offers. “Eight o’clock?”

“Roger that,” Hyojin says.

Minkyun puts his phone away and gives Jay a goodbye pat. “Sounds like a plan.”


	10. Falling Through

“I thought you said you didn’t drink.”

_Shit._

“I don’t,” Seungjoon laughs. It’s a nervous sound, one he’s unable to calm, but he plays it up as amusement and hopes Minkyun buys it. “This is for Hyojin when he finishes your set.”

Minkyun nods, accepting the glass Seungjoon sets down for him and coughing into his hand- Seungjoon, too busy looking across the bar for a sign of Hyojin, misses the way the gesture doesn’t quite manage to hide his smile.

“I see.” His voice is clear, and the pain in his throat now nonexistent, and suddenly he feels bad for accepted Hyojin’s offer to cover for him. Well, Seungjoon’s offer. It’d been his idea, after all.

Yuto and Changyoon are late, and it’s only the two of them at the table, Hyojin somewhere behind the stage warming up or freaking out or both. Minkyun smiles at the thought. He’d did his fair share of both, behind the same stage, and it’s nice, if a little strange, thinking of Hyojin in his place. A nervous flutter of butterflies starts in his stomach. 

When he’d agreed, he’d been grateful for the opportunity to sit back and do nothing, a rare opportunity to rest, and if he's honest he'd accept any excuse to spend time with the two of them. But now, when he’s sitting before the stage in the dim smokiness of the bar, it’s different. He’s nervous. He wonders whether this is what Hyojin had felt like, the first night they’d been here and their places were reversed and it'd been Minkyun on stage. Probably not.

He busies himself by downing whatever carbonated drink he’d asked Seungjoon for and looking around the room instead of staring at the stage. He’d wanted to ask for something hot, because the pain in his throat, however short lived, had been enough to shake him into precautions he wouldn’t usually take, but he’d been too worried about sounding weird and uncool. If it’d been Hyojin he’d have another tea in front of him right now, he’d probably be listening to a lecture on the importance of taking care of yourself, he probably wouldn’t have stuttered when asked a simple question.

“You doing OK?”

The voice is almost disinterested, just loud enough to hear over the other conversations in the bar, but it startles him just the same. He looks across at Seungjoon and sees the boy raise a questioning brow at him.

“Fine,” he manages to rasp.

Seungjoon nods and turns his attention back to the stage. Minkyun thinks their conversation must have ended already, before Seungjoon asks, without taking his eyes from the stage: “How’s your throat?”

“Actually, it’s fine...I kind of feel bad for making Hyojin cover for me now.”

“Don’t,” Seungjoon shrugs, “he said he didn’t mind.”

“Right.” Right, he had said that. Minkyun didn’t need to feel bad.

“Do you go see him sing very often?”

Seungjoon nods with a small smile. “He watches me dance, so…”

He trails off, not bothering to finish the thought. Minkyun feels a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach, imagining both of them supporting the other like that, Seungjoon clapping from a table of friends, Hyojin cupping his hands around his mouth to yell above a crowd. It’s not jealousy, but it’s something like it.

He pushes it down. He’ll think about it later.

He tries to think of something to say and draws a blank. He’d usually be talking Hyojin’s ears off by now, but with Seungjoon, he’s too aware of the silence Seungjoon lets stretch between them to let himself ramble. He thinks about the very short conversations he’s had with the dancer so far and decides to model his own question on basically the only thing Seungjoon has ever asked him.

“D’you sing too?”

It’s the only thing he can think of. If Seungjoon had been so curious whether Minkyun could dance, surely it’s only natural for Minkyun to be curious about his skillset, too, right?

Seungjoon smirks as if he knows what he’s doing. “Only when forced.”

“What do I need to do to force you?”

Seungjoon hums thoughtfully. “I’ll have to think about it.”

A pleased thrill runs through Minkyun at the reply. Seungjoon glances at him just long enough to smile and then they both look away, at the stage. 

“It isn’t like Yuto to be late, is it?”

“Um, no.” Minkyun taps his phone against his lap a few times as if trying to beat a text into appearing across the screen. “They must be caught in traffic.”

A quiet round of applause interrupts them just as Seungjoon opens his mouth to speak, and they both jolt, turning to the stage to see a familiar pink-haired boy step up to the microphone. The band had reemerged without them noticing, and Minkyun’s eyes flicker over every instrument, surprised. Normally he prefers to do his set by himself, at the piano, sometimes even acoustically, so any mistake he made would be less noticeable. But Hyojin seems at ease up there, with the band surrounding him, as he smiles into the mic and an upbeat, horn-heavy instrumental booms through the room. It’s fast, and modern, and full-bodied, and Minkyun’s natural nervousness comes out as Hyojin’s voice joins the noise, momentarily wondering whether it’s too much for such a small, casual venue. But then he sees a few people clapping along, and others swaying in their seats and grinning, and relaxes. 

Seungjoon, for his part, seems less surprised with the song choice. He’s dancing and strumming the table, as if no longer aware of the people around them. Minkyun finds that he wants to feel like that too.

He turns back to the stage to see Hyojin grinning at him. He winks, and Minkyun laughs, raising his elbows from the table so Hyojin might be able to see him clapping. It’s not a set he’d ever have the confidence to do himself, but Hyojin’s clearer voice jumps across the music, playing with the melody in true jazz style, and he sings to the room, something Minkyun knows he hasn’t mastered yet. His eyes travel across the crowds, and he sways with the people he notices watching him, smiling. 

Only when Seungjoon chuckles and taps Minkyun’s chin does he realise how he’s been staring, his mouth wide open in shock.

“You’re catching flies,” Seungjoon laughs, leaning closer so Minkyun can hear his voice over the music.

Minkyun isn’t sure whether it’s embarrassment or their sudden proximity that make him blush, just knows that his face is definitely some drastic shade of pink, based on the sudden heat he feels at his cheeks. “It’s just- he seems so different, up there.”

“Does he?” Seungjoon must admit, he can’t really see any difference. Hyojin always seems like this to him, open and free and charming. It must be the competition, the strange, uncharacteristic shyness it had brought out in him, that Minkyun is used to.

“You were like that too,” he adds, to distract Minkyun from his question. “Like you’d turned into a different person as soon as you were in front of a microphone.”

It’s something Minkyun's been told so many times, he knows to expect it, knows to take it as a compliment, but somehow it feels strange when he hears it from Seungjoon. Had he really been paying enough attention to notice the difference? It hadn’t seemed like it.

Hyojin’s set ends, and they clap more enthusiastically than the other patrons- a more difficult task than they’d expected, because it seems they’re not the only ones disappointed that Hyojin’s stepping away from the microphone.

He heads straight for their table, though, and Minkyun doesn’t have time to be disappointed by the song change as the band starts playing something calmer because Hyojin is grinning like sunshine and skipping up to them. Seungjoon hollers, one more time, and Hyojin slaps his arm, though he can’t hold back a laugh.

“How was it?” he asks, and Minkyun’s heart skips a few beats when he realises Hyojin is looking at him. “Did I ruin your good reputation? Can you ever show your face here again?”

“I think you showed me up,” Minkyun admits, sounding too earnest and cringing for a second before Hyojin scoffs and waves away the compliment.

“As if.” He accepts the drink Seungjoon pushes towards him with a grateful smile and throws it back, swallowing it in two mouthfuls. Seungjoon sighs in relief when Hyojin doesn’t mention how strange it is for him to have a drink prepared, because trying to explain how quickly he’d forgotten about the _I don’t drink_ lie would really have been embarrassing. 

Hyojin puts both hands over his heart and grins. His voice is breathless as he sighs, “Wow, I’m glad that’s over.”

“I’m not,” Seungjoon says. “D’you think they’d let you have another round if we shoved you back up there?”

“Almost definitely,” Minkyun answers.

“You two are just conspiring to get rid of me,” Hyojin lilts. But there’s a slight flush to his cheeks that has nothing to do with the alcohol. His stool scrapes against the floor as he pushes himself to his feet, still jittery with adrenaline. “I need another drink.”

He wanders over to the bar- somehow, with him gone, it seems too quiet at their table, and Minkyun wipes his hands on his trousers, suddenly feeling like there's something missing, that he needs to cover up.

“It’s...a pity Changyoon and Yuto missed his set. They’d have loved it.”

“Maybe you should call them,” Seungjoon says, a frown of concern creating a wrinkle between his brows. “They said they’d be here, didn’t they? Maybe something’s wrong.”

Minkyun tries to react like an anxious friend would react and scrambles for his phone, dipping his chin to his chest to hide the clumsiness of his expression. He hadn't entirely thought the 'tell his friends the wrong time and pretend it was an accident' plan through in detail.

“Uh, yeah, I should do that.”

He’s half out of his chair, phone in hand, when someone knocks into his back, knocking him off balance. He gasps, trying to right himself, and Seungjoon catches him just before he falls on top of him, saving him from unending embarrassment, but somehow bringing them within an inch of each other. Minkyun finds himself leaning forward, Seungjoon’s hands on his shoulders steadying him, their eyes meeting. Seungjoon looks just as surprised as he feels.

“Are you alright?” the older boy asks, without taking his hands away, without drawing back.

“Yeah,” Minkyun breathes. His eyes dip to Seungjoon’s lips without him willing them to.

Seungjoon notices. 

If he leaned closer right now, would he win? From the look on Minkyun’s face, he’s almost certain he would, and he’s definitely certain he wants to. The few inches between them seem like a frustratingly large distance, and he feels himself tilt his head closer unconsciously before he stops. There’s a figure standing just behind them, frozen like a statue. In his peripheral, Seungjoon can just make out the pink of his hair, the whites stripes of a blazer he’d stolen from Seungjoon’s own closet.

Minkyun’s still staring at him.

Seungjoon turns his head away and releases him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those wondering, the song Hyojin sings here is the jazz foxtrot version of 'Young and Beautiful' (for logical reasons, because he doesnt listen to jazz and i thought it would be reasonable for his first thought to be "i'll just have to sing something from the great gatsby cause i dont know any other jazz songs", and also because i just think he'd be amazing at that song) and the song MK sings in an earlier chapter was based on the first section of PostModernJukebox's 'Black Hole Sun' cover xx


	11. Break-In

The loft is quiet and dark around him as Hyojin stares up at his ceiling.

There’s a mark just above his bed, etched there almost a year back now, when he’d bought a new mattress and Seungjoon had bounced on it like a child. Hyojin had laughed, and laughed, and only when his sides were sore did he let himself be pulled up too. He’d been mourning his teen years, a few months free of college and entirely uncertain of what to do with himself. Money had been coming in, but he’d still felt something hanging over him, his own invisible raincloud. He’d bought the mattress on a whim, through an ad, hoping a few more hours of better sleep could help him when he didn’t know how to help himself.

Seungjoon had pulled him up onto the mattress with him, and they’d been ten years old again, in Seungjoon’s back garden, leaping into the sky with trampoline springs creaking under them. He’d thrown his hands up and caught the ceiling with his watch, and both of them had howled with laughter, even when Jaeyoung had come to investigate the thud and yelled over the mark the metal had made on the white paint. Seungjoon had offered to paint over it for him, but Hyojin always made some excuse to leave it be.

His pillow smells like Seungjoon’s shampoo. He’d forgotten to buy himself a new one at the start of the month and had been stealing out of Seungjoon’s ridiculously huge bottle since. It’s something musky, like perfumed pine cones. 

He can still remember the look on Minkyun’s face when he’d sang at the bar. Safely up on stage, Hyojin had been feeling bold, and Minkyun had been staring. Hyojin calls up the image of him, grinning, as if the caramel haired boy is in the room with him, staring up at the same ceiling. He imagines the conversation they’d have if he was here, how he’d explain the mark on his ceiling, or whether he’d turn and reach under the bed for the photo album he knows is gathering dust there, and they’d pour over every photograph together, laughing at the young clumsiness of Seungjoon’s limbs before he grew into them, the horrible outfits Hyojin’s parents had dressed him in.

It’s harder to deny it in the dark. He knows why he’d reacted that way at the bar, when he’d saw the two of them together without him.

It’s not as if Hyojin’s split in two. It would be so much easier if one half of him disagreed with the other. The feelings are mixed, a confused tangle of thoughts and fantasies he can’t separate. He’s known Seungjoon too long to remember their meeting, so how can this feel so new? He’d met Minkyun weeks ago, at most, but this feels older. It’s difficult to reconcile his feelings with the fact that they’d just met so recently.

He turns over onto his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows as he reaches for his phone and glares at the sudden brightness. The song he selects is soft through his earphones, the kind that would be so slow and gentle in the daylight it would annoy him, but suits the darkness and the quiet. He listens to it with only one earphone, not sure what he’s listening for.

Sleep had seemed impossibly distant, but he must have succumbed to it at some early point of the morning, because he wakes to the sound of his alarm buzzing beside his ear. 

He sighs as he turns it to snooze. There’s no plan ahead of him except for a long day in the studio, probably fussing over lyrics he’d been trying to write for at least a few months now, maybe work up the motivation to record another demo, and the prospect of facing Seungjoon completely sober after what had happened last night.

Why had he done it?

He’s spent the night wondering, and still didn’t have an answer. His opportunity had been right there.

He’d been waiting for an explanation on the taxi ride home, maybe an ‘ _I thought I’d go easy on you, the game can’t end that quickly’_ or even an ‘ _I’ve decided I don’t actually like Minkyun, so the game’s off’_ , but Seungjoon hadn’t mentioned it at all. Hyojin only knows what he saw- that both of them had been leaning closer and closer as he’d watched, and then Seungjoon had suddenly pulled away. Minkyun had looked disappointed, but had converted back into his usual bubbly self when Hyojin had cleared his throat and pretended he hadn’t noticed what’d happened between them when he was gone.

There’s a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach that doesn’t let him eat breakfast. He takes a shower and stares at his reflection for a while, feeling lost, and tumbles out onto a dawn-lit street in search of a coffee, not really intending to drink it, needing some excuse to get out of the loft and walk away his nerves.

Should he ask? Next time he sees Seungjoon, should he just ask why he hadn’t done it? No, he can’t do that. Even the thought sends a shiver of nausea through him.

He realises quickly after a few burning sips of coffee that the studio isn’t where he should be today. His thoughts are too distracted, too jumbled, to create anything he could use, anyway. He needs something that’ll make him feel more like himself, something that could reverse the uneasy restlessness in him. There are two places he can think of that might help. The first is the teashop they’d sat at yesterday morning, and it brings back thoughts he’s trying to ignore, so he chooses the second place.

It works, at least for a while.

There are certainly healthier, and more responsible, coping mechanisms he ought to pick up, but this one hasn’t failed him yet, and as he flicks a deep crimson lock of hair from his forehead he feels his spirits lift, however marginally. By the time he leaves the salon, the hour is more reasonable, and people have started their commutes to work, and school. The eyes that follow him as he passes are gratifying, and instead of ignoring them as he usually would, he focuses on them, hoping they’ll bring back some of his old confidence. _This_ is why he’d agreed to the stupid bet, he thinks, this is why he’d been so sure he could win.

All of his recovered confidence threatens to evaporate, though, when he steps back into their kitchen and Seungjoon looks up from him behind a bowl of cereal.

“H-Jin,” he says quietly, a note of surprise raising his voice to a near-whisper. “The pink’s gone.”

Hyojin nods and ruffles his hair, suddenly unsure of what to do with himself as Seungjoon’s eyes fly across his face. 

“The pink wasn’t for me,” he says, not entirely the truth. He hadn’t minded the pink. He’s just not entirely sure who the red is for. He’s supposed to be appealing to Minkyun, but it wasn’t Minkyun who’d suggested the color.

Seungjoon pushes his bowl away with a nod. “I like it.”

Hyojin turns away on the pretence of searching the fridge, knowing very well that he won’t be able to stomach so much as a single grape right now.

“You must have been up early.”

Hyojin closes the fridge with a sigh. “I was planning on getting some work done today.”

“ _Was_? Past tense?”

“I don’t know... maybe I’ll still go in later.”

Seungjoon doesn’t push him, knowing through first hand experiences, as well as over a decade witnessing Hyojin’s creative mood swings, how counterproductive it would be to force work that just doesn’t want to be done. He still needs to think about that damned assignment, himself.

“Well I need to figure out this dance.” Hyojin looks back at him, the barest hint of a smile on his lips, with an eager expression that’s trying very hard to appear neutral, as if trying not to scare Seungjoon out of his sudden motivation with too much enthusiasm and pressure. Seungjoon laughs at him, and he pouts.

“Lets do something on friday, though.”

Hyojin blinks owlishly. “Friday?”

“Yeah, just us two. We could see a movie.”

“Right.”

“I need something fun. We haven’t been out just the two of us in a while.”

“Yeah, I suppose we haven’t. What movie?”

Seungjoon shrugs and places his bowl quietly in the sink. “You pick.”

There’s no way of getting out of it without arousing suspicion, because it’s not uncommon for the two of them to make plans like this and dump Jaeyoung on his own. They’d been doing it for years, and there’s no justifiable reason for Hyojin to feel differently about it now. 

But he does. He feels differently about just about everything, now.

When they eat together, he’s constantly aware of himself, how he looks, whether he’s eating too fast or eating too slow or eating the wrong thing. When they’re watching TV with Jaeyoung his stomach twists nervously whenever Seungjoon comes too close, which is most of the time, because they’re used to watching movies in a tangle of limbs, and Seungjoon’s head is always on his shoulder, or in his lap, their sides pressed together.

How had he never noticed his own reactions before?

After what happened at the bar, Hyojin doesn’t reach out to Minkyun for a few days. It’s strange to suddenly be away from him. Even after such a short time of acquaintance, Minkyun had become a somewhat constant presence for Hyojin, and now he’s gone there’s an empty feeling deep in his gut, like he’s missing something.

Friday comes sluggishly, a torturous wait through days of too much Seungjoon and too little Minkyun, and Hyojin’s nerves have been very effectively fried by the time he’s sitting in a darkened room with Seungjoon beside him, a bag of popcorn in his lap.

He can’t even remember the movie he’d chosen. He’d been trying not to freak out too much at the prospect of something that’s definitely not a date that feels so much like it could be a date, and he’d selected the first half-decent picture he’d found. Seungjoon hadn’t even asked what it was, just followed him through to the screen and sat down.

Both of their phones ding as they wait for the movie to begin. 

That’s another new thing- at some point, Seungjoon had created a chat with Minkyun and added Hyojin too. They hadn’t spoken much, but Hyojin’s phone had been burning holes in his pockets every day since he’d noticed the new conversation.

Seungjoon fishes in his pocket for his phone, and Hyojin, with a nervous sigh, does the same. It’s from Minkyun.

**MK**

What’re you guys up to?

Seungjoon laughs at the back of his throat and shuffles closer. Hyojin finds a camera pointed at him, and natural instincts kick in even as his stomach plummets to the ground, and somehow he manages to pose and smile.

**Seungjoon**

****

If you keep texting us youre gonna get us kicked out pretty boy

**MK**

really?? cause it looks like the lights are still on

The movie hasnt started yet has it

**Hyojin**

Nope

Whatre you doing rn?

**MK**

**Hyojin**

Cute :D

**Seungjoon**

Who took the pic?

**MK** **  
** My mom

* * *

Seungjoon groans and holds his phone away from his face.

"What are we doing, Jin?' He sighs.

Hyojin laughs as if he completely understands, because he does, too busy blinking down at the photo on his phone screen to look up at him and see Seungjoon’s ashamed expression but sharing in the sentiment just the same.

"Did you really just get jealous for a second there?"

Seungjoon goes back to squinting at his phone instead of answering.

* * *

**Seungjoon**

Visiting home?

**MK**

actually she's visiting me 

She just brought the cat too cause she thought i missed him

**Seungjoon**

Your mothers at your apartment?

**Hyojin**

You havent mentioned her visiting before

**MK**

Ye she really likes changyoon for some reason

Hes pretty popular with old ladies 

**Seungjoon**

Wow

Your friday night plans sound crazy

**MK**

why do you think I'm texting yous

Im bored stiff

**Hyojin**

Even with the cat there?

**MK**

I'd rather be doing something else on a Friday night 

Shocking, i know

**Seungjoon**

Then come see a movie

**MK**

Wouldn’t i miss like half of it? Would they even let me buy a ticket so late?

**Seungjoon**

Dont buy one, just let us sneak you in

**MK**

what? 

We can’t do that

**Seungjoon**

Sure we can

One of our friends used to work here so we know all the tricks

**Hyojin**

The alarm on the fire exit by screen 3 stopped working and they never replaced it

We could let you in there

**MK**

Hmmmmm

**Seungjoon**

Come on kyunie

Live a little 

**Hyojin**

It would make us very happy 

**Seungjoon**

Im sure your mom will have a great time with changyoon

**MK**

…..

Im on my way

You two better let me in

**Hyojin**

If the alarm goes off remember this was seungjoon’s idea


	12. Burnout

They sneak out just as the movie is beginning, the title rolling across the screen above them as they duck and half-run out of their screen into another. It’s not in use, full of empty seats, but the lights are on, startling them into squinting in the sudden change. Screen three, the place they’d practically lived in one winter in high school, when neither of them had the money to do anything else, let in by an old friend and slinking silently into seats they hadn’t paid for. They’d been caught only once, but it hadn’t been serious enough for anyone to remember their faces, so it hadn’t stopped them from using the same trick again. And again. And again. It's been a while, since the last time they'd snuck through a fire exit together, though.

Now, they straighten up, moving at a slower pace with no one around to see their scheming. Hyojin takes off his cap and ruffles a hand through his hair, and Seungjoon laughs, a sound that echoes through the empty room despite its quietness.

“Trying to look good for your date?” he teases.

“It's hardly a date with the three of us all here. Besides, jt was _you_ that invited him,” Hyojin reminds him.

Seungjoon raises a brow. “You don’t want him here?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Their phones buzz again, and Seungjoon beats Hyojin to it, already backing away as he reads the message Minkyun had just sent them.

“Can’t find the exit. I’ll go help him.”

Before Hyojin can protest, the doors to screen three are swinging shut behind him, and Hyojin is left in an empty movie theatre. He waits for a _ding_ from his phone and, when it comes, steps over to the exit without bothering to read the message.

They’d figured it would be wiser to open the doors when they knew Minkyun was definitely standing on the other side, just in case the alarm really _had_ been replaced, so they could at least have a few seconds to run, but when he pushes on the bar and the exit doors swing open, revealing Minkyun and Seungjoon laughing behind it, the theatre's silent, no alarm bells ringing.

Minkyun lets out a huge, grateful sigh of relief as Seungjoon leads him into the theatre, one arm already slung over the younger boy’s shoulders. 

"Told you I knew what I was talking about," Seungjoon says, jostling Minkyun playfully, making him giggle.

“I’m so happy that worked,” Minkyun sighs, giving Hyojin a small smile, and then his eyes blow wide as he spots something. “Oh-your hair!”

Hyojin had almost forgotten about it, when they’d stepped through the door towards him, arm in arm and grinning, but now he remembers that he's still holding the cap he’d hastily taken off in favour of showing his newly crimson curls. He beams as Minkyun compliments him, and ignores the feeling of Seungjoon’s eyes on him, too, as they make small talk in an empty movie theatre, trying not to meet his friend’s gaze, uncertain what he’d see.

Seungjoon snaps out of it first, taking his arm from Minkyun’s shoulders and starting toward the doors. “Shall we?” he asks, wiggling his eyebrows. “We have a movie to break into.”

They follow him back to the darkened theatre they’d left, finding their seats just as they’d left them, empty with Hyojin’s tub of popcorn still sitting in one of the cupholders. There’s an awkward shuffle as Hyojin and Minkyun decide where to sit, but then Seungjoon steps past them, pulling Minkyun’s arm so he follows, and they sit like that, Seungjoon on one end, Hyojin on the other, Minkyun in the middle.

They don’t speak much, just laugh along quietly to what seems to be some kind of slice-of-life comedy, Hyojin eating most of the popcorn, Minkyun drawing his knees up to his chest and using his blazer as a blanket. It’s comfortable- Hyojin, for the first time that day, feels like he can breathe. He's not trying desperately to think of something to say, not too aware of how close he is to either of them.

That is, until somewhere near the end of the movie, when he goes to put his arm around the back of Minkyun’s chair, not really thinking about it, more of a relaxed, natural instinct rather than a part of their game, and immediately hits Seungjoon, who’d been doing the exact same thing.

The other boy glares at him from behind Minkyun’s seat, but he’s trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, too, and it's clear he's too amused to really be annoyed. The dim light coming from the movie screen catches the panels of his face, and his teeth as he grins, and Hyojin snatches his arm back.He turns to the screen again, sensing Seungjoon staring at him, giving him a strange look, confused by his reaction.

Minkyun hadn’t seemed to notice. Hyojin takes a steadying breath and focuses on the movie. He leaves the movie theatre with little more understanding of the plot than when he'd picked the film out of a random list without checking the synopsis- though it's simple, and plain, he stares at the screen as it plays out and takes in absolutely none of it.

“What next?” is the first thing Seungjoon asks when they step out onto a dark street, Hyojin’s stomach full of popcorn, Mk shrugging on the jacket he’d been using as a blanket. Seungjoon’s dark eyes glint in the light from the streetlamps, shining with something excited and sly and too much for Hyojin to handle right now.

“Actually I, um, I’m feeling kind of tired, so…”

Both of them turn to him with wide eyes, and he fakes a yawn, stretching his arms above his head.

“You’re not going home,” Seungjoon says, a note of disbelief behind the words. He must be wondering why on earth Hyojin would let him have such a huge advantage, leaving him alone with Minkyun. “It’s a friday night!”

Minkyun peers at him. “Are you feeling alright?” 

“I’m fine, really, I just...I’m not feeling up to-” he gestures to Seungjoon, who’s practically jumping up and down “-I’ll see you guys tomorrow, or something?”

“Tomorrow,” Seungjoon echos, slowly, still staring at him like he’s crazy. 

He probably is. This might be the end of the line- the last time he’d left them alone, he’d come back to see them with barely an inch between them, and only Seungjoon spotting him and turning away had stopped them from getting closer. If he's not there with them, the game will likely end tonight, without him.

But he can’t do this right now. It’s too much, to be with them both at once, and feel like he’s being pulled in two opposite directions. In the morning, when it’s not just them, when there are less possibilities hanging in the air around them, it’ll be easier. Seungjoon’s so much brighter on nights like this, when the sky is black and everything is neon, and Minkyun’s catching his energy too. Hyojin needs to lie down. He needs to cuddle Jay and watch a sad movie. Something. Something to take his mind of of the choices he can't seem to make, to distract him, just for the night.

They let him go, and at least they seem to regret his leaving, instead of the secretive, excited looks he’d been expecting. Jay purrs and slinks out of a dark corner when he steps into the living room of their flat, alone, like he can sense Hyojin’s mood, settling into his lap as soon as he collapses into a sofa. Hyojin sighs, and pulls him closer.


	13. Monday

“You told him _what?”_

Hyojin turns away from Seungjoon’s scandalised expression and hides a grin with a sip from the mug cupped between his hands. “Quiet down,” he says. “You scared Jay.”

He picks up the bundle of fur from the kitchen tile and hugs him to his chest, feeling Jay purr and relax into his touch with a smile.

“To hell with you _and_ your cat, Hyojin!” Seungjoon cries, collapsing into a chair behind their kitchen table. “Oh my _god,_ I can’t stand you right now.”

“I didn’t think it’d be such a big deal,” Hyojin protests, because really, one tiny lie as small as the one he’d told Minkyun that morning shouldn’t have caused this kind of reaction, not when he and Seungjoon had been trying to sabotage each others chances for so long.

“You’re despicable,” Seungjoon tells him.

Hyojin laughs incredulously. “It wasn’t me who followed a boy he barely knows to school this morning!”

“I didn’t follow him, I followed _you!”_

“You- wait, what?” Seungjoon groans and drops his head into his hands. Hyojin slides into a seat beside him, letting Jay jump down and slink through the kitchen doorway, leaving them alone in search of Jaeyoung. “Why would you follow _me?”_

Seungjoon takes his hands from his face and cries “I don’t know!” At Hyojin’s surprised expression, he sighs, calming himself. “You just didn’t seem yourself last night, and you left the apartment so early, so I wanted to see where you were going. I didn’t know you’d walk Minkyun to school, it just worked out like that.”

“He said his throat was fine,” Hyojin reminds him, and Seungjoon scowls.

“I know. I just thought...well, it couldn’t hurt.”

Hyojin thinks back to that morning. He hadn’t been able to fall asleep again after waking at dawn, and had distantly remembered Minkyun mentioning how his school was between Hyojin’s loft and studio, how they could walk together in the morning, because he gets bored being by himself. He’d thought about it for a few hours, the sunlight slowly filtering through the blinds of his bedroom, replacing the moonlit grey of his room with sunny gold, and had sent a few quick texts he didn’t think he’d get replies to. Minkyun had seemed eager, though, so they’d met and walked the short remaining distance to Minkyun’s school together. Hyojin hadn’t said much, and Minkyun had seemed extra bright, as if trying to make up for Hyojin’s strange mood, sensing something was wrong. It’d been nice, and awful, because seeing him trying so hard to be nice when Hyojin was being so glum had only made him feel guiltier, for bringing the mood down, for thinking about Seungjoon as they walked, wondering whether it would be different if it were the three of them strolling together.

Hyojin had left him outside his department and messed around with a new demo in his studio for an hour or two, not really doing anything, agreeing to meet Minkyun for the walk back after his class, because he’d felt so guilty about how he’d been acting, and knowing it was Minkyun’s way of trying to make him feel better.

Minkyun had had something gripped tightly in his hand, when Hyojin had wandered up to him, a flask with a little silver ribbon tied around it, and a note.

“I, um...when did you do this?”

He’d waved the flask in the air, and Hyojin had frowned, confused, but somehow certain this had something to do with Seungjoon, so he’d carefully dodged the question with one of his own, pretending he knows, even though he doesn’t.

“What’ve you got there?”

Minkyun had picked up on the (faked) dry humour in his voice and raised a brow, grinning as he dropped the flask to his side. “Don’t play dumb,” he said, hitting Hyojin’s arm lightly with his own. “I asked someone in my class where it came from and they said a pretty guy with dyed hair dropped it off.”

Hyojin had glanced down at the post-it-note strung on the silver ribbon, where familiar thin, scratchy handwriting inked the paper, too small to read. “Did you read the note?” he asked, hoping it’d contain a hint that could explain the situation to him.

“Yes, but I told you I was fine! There’s no reason to take care of me. If I was actually ill, you’d know, really, I’m insufferable when I’m sick.”

Oh. So Seungjoon had dropped something off at Minkyun’s desk without leaving his name on it. A hot drink, from the sound of it, for Minkyun’s throat, after Hyojin had filled in on his performance, like the ones he'd always brought Hyojin when he hadn't been feeling his best.

“It was nothing,” Hyojin had said.

 _Pretty guy with dyed hair._ Of course, whoever it was had meant Seungjoon. It’s flattering, that Minkyun thought of Hyojin instead. It lifts his mood, a little.

And now, seeing Seungjoon’s comical dramatics at having his little plan undone lifts it even more.

Hyojin laughs quietly at his misery.

“It was nice of you,” he offers helpfully.

“I know it was!" Seungjoon snaps. "That’s probably why he thought it was you, and not me!”

Hyojin, a little perplexed, studies the irritation in his expression and tries to work out whether it's sincere or exaggerated to make him laugh. He can't decide, so he says, not unkindly, “There's no need to be so dramatic about it.”

Seungjoon shakes his head bitterly and sighs. “I should’ve just taken my chance when I had it.”

_So why didn’t you?_

He doesn’t ask it. He doesn’t know what answer he’d want, anyway.

“Anyway, why were you even awake early enough to notice me leave?”

“Oh, yeah.” Seungjoon stands and pours himself a glass of water, answering with his back to Hyojin, looking out the tiny box window of their kitchen. “I was up all night working out an idea.”

“An idea?”

“A dance.”

_“You did it?”_

Seungjoon winces at the volume of Hyojin’s sudden shriek of realisation. “Maybe,” he edges, hesitant. “My teacher’s gonna hate me, but at least I have _something_.”

“Joon, that’s awesome! But...why would your teacher hate you?”

“It’s a three person piece. They don’t usually grade well.”

“Oh. You always do well, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Seungjoon grumbles something incoherent and drains the entire glass, the fingertips of his free hand beating a frantic beat on the kitchen worktop. He’s usually far more excited to be getting out of a creative slump. Maybe Hyojin’s bad mood had affected him too. But Hyojin’s feeling far sunnier now, after making a good play in their game, _finally,_ and a few walks with Minkyun and now a talk with Seungjoon, getting to deal with them separately. He’s less overwhelmed. So it can’t be him bringing Seungjoon down. Something else.

Uncalled for, another memory of that morning comes to him, Minkyun skipping on the road as Hyojin walks on the sidewalk, like he’d been trying to level out the difference in their height, make himself look smaller. Hyojin had smiled at that.

But his smile had wavered as he’d forced himself to be talkative and asked the question that’d been niggling at him. “What did you do on Friday? After I left.”

They hadn’t met the next day, like he’d suggested, or the next again. It’s Monday now, and he hadn’t saw Seungjoon all weekend. Mainly because he’s been avoiding him, waking up early and coming back to the loft later than usual on the pretence of getting some work done. But Seungjoon himself had been elusive, too, always gone when Hyojin looked for him. Now, he guesses, at least he knows what he'd been doing, but that morning, he'd still been entertaining the idea of the two of them spending the entire weekend together without him, rather than knowing Seungjoon had spent it holed up in a practice room by himself.

Minkyun had shrugged at the question, despite the faint, rosey pink blooming across his cheekbones at the mention of the other boy. “Not much. It wasn’t as fun without you.”

It’d seemed like he’d added that last bit as another attempt at brightening Hyojin’s mood, because really he hadn’t been all that fun, and they must have felt freer without having to entertain him.

“Did you get dinner?”

Somehow the idea of it was worse than the idea of them doing anything else, the domesticity of it, how normal it would seem for them to eat together, like Hyojin and Seungjoon had been doing for years. 

But Minkyun had scrunched up his face in thought, and then shook his head. “I guess not. Neither of us were hungry.” At Hyojin’s scolding expression, he’d laughed, and held up his hands in surrender. “We snacked!”

Hyojin had rolled his eyes. “Desert is not a dinner. He took you to that waffle place, didn’t he?”

“How did you know!” Minkyun had shrieked.

Hyojin had cast his eyes to the sky, exaggeratedly exasperated. “He loves that waffle place.”

Minkyun had stared at him, and then turned back to the road, walking a few quiet paces before he'd said- “He talked about you a lot.”

Hyojin’s expression twisted into a grimace at all the things he'd imagined Seungjoon saying to sabotage his chances- there’s a lot of material to chose from.

“Oh dear,” he’d laughed.

“No, not like…” Minkyun had trailed off, frowning, uncharacteristically serious. “I don’t know. He must have been worried about you.”

“You’re saying Seungjoon talked about me _nicely?”_

Minkyun had burst into a fit of loud laughter, but Hyojin had been serious. It would have been all too easy for Seungjoon to casually bring up all of his disadvantages and secure a win for himself in this dumb wager he’s already so close to winning, but he hadn’t, and he’d spent the entire time he’d had alone with Minkyun talking about Hyojin?

Seungjoon’s back is still to him. He’s on his second glass now, sipping it more slowly, staring at something out of the window Hyojin can’t see. 

_He talked about you a lot. I think he was worried._

Screw it. There’s already so many things he won’t let himself ask. He’ll be brave enough to allow himself this one.

“Minkyun said you were talking about me, Friday night.” Seungjoon half-turns at the sound of his voice, but then registers what he’d said, and doesn’t look at him. “Should I just give up now? How bad’s the damage?”

Seungjoon throws back the dregs in his glass and sets it in the sink with a little too much force. When he spins, there’s a sly smile just starting to grow on his face. Something about it seems strange, to Hyojin, though it looks like a carbon copy of all of his other sly smiles. “I don’t know what you mean,” he lilts, clearly lying.

“Is that why you were so annoyed about me pretending to be the one behind the drink? Because you’d been slandering me Friday night and yet Minkyun now thinks I’ve done something nice for him?”

Seungjoon settles back against the counters, leaning back on his hands, clutching the edge of the worktop. He studies Hyojin’s expression for a moment, back-lit by the window, light haloing around his hair. “No, Hyojin,” he says levelly. His voice is calm and soft and doesn’t sound like his voice. “That’s not why I’m annoyed.”

Hyojin feels strange, like he’s not entirely there, in their kitchen, having this conversation. Like he’s suddenly lightheaded, or breathless, like the fluttering in his stomach is trying to eat him up from the inside out. He swallows, thickly, a mistake, because he sees Seungjoon’s eyes following the movement at his throat and the strange feeling worsens. 

“Then why?”

“Because I couldn’t seem to stop talking about you on friday after you left and now I don’t know why I did it.” 

“You didn’t talk badly about me?”

Seungjoon gives him a small smile. “I wouldn’t know how to, Jin.”

“That can’t be true.”

Seungjoon just looks at him. His expression is unreadable, no longer smiling, not entirely _not_ smiling, either, not a stony blankness, just a purposeful one. Hyojin opens his mouth, unsure of what to say, and is interrupted by Jaeyoung, who barges into the kitchen with Jay in his arms, whistling.

He freezes, a few steps away from the fridge, as he sees them both staring at him.

“What? Is there something on my face?”

Seungjoon sighs and steps away from the counters. He doesn’t look at Hyojin as he leaves the kitchen, and then a few moments later there’s the familiar slam of their front door as he leaves the loft entirely.

“What was that?” Jaeyoung says, looking dazed. “Is something going on with you two?”

“No,” Hyojin shrugs, trying to cover the tremor in his voice with a cough. He tries again, and his voice comes out almost normal as he says, “Just Seungjoon being Seungjoon.”

Jaeyoung makes a noise of understanding and starts rifling through the refrigerator.

Hyojin shuffles out of the kitchen and rushes to his room, shutting the door behind him. His mattress creaks as he throws himself onto his bed, but lying on his back shows him the mark on his ceiling, and he sits up, too nervous to look at it, one of dozens of little clues as to Seungjoon’s presence in his room, like the shirt Hyojin had stolen from him, lying on the back of his desk chair, the Polaroids he’d pinned to a cork-board, the photo album under his bed. Looking at them and realising just how much of his life has been taken over by their friendship is _really_ not what he needs right now. He flops onto his stomach and covers his head with a pillow, screaming a small, muffled scream into his duvet.

He needs to calm down. He needs to do a thousand push-ups and drink all of the water in their fridge and redecorate his bedroom and scream a little more. 

Something’s going on with them. Something is _definitely_ going on with them.

Even though he knows it’ll make him feel worse, he can’t stop thinking about the look on Sengjoon’s face as they’d talked, the way he’d stared at him without looking away. How quickly the atmosphere had shifted when Jaeyoung had interrupted- _interrupted_ , something Hyojin hadn’t thought Jaeyoung could do before now, in the loft they live in together, where Seungjoon and Hyojin had never had anything to _interrupt_ before. Seungjoon’s sigh as they’d stopped talking, how quickly he’d left the flat, like he was annoyed at the interruption, too.

Hyojin screams into his duvet again, for good measure, but the fluttering, nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach doesn’t budge.


	14. Ice Cream

Hyojin wakes up to a text from an unknown number that makes his heart leap up his throat like it’s trying to escape out of his mouth.

 _**Hey** , _It starts, very casually, like it’s not a big deal.

**_This is Yuto, I thought I’d just text both of you at the same time to save...time, anyway, kyun’s got his last exam today and didnt tell you cause he said itd just make him nervous, but now he’s away i figured id tell you in case you wanted to join us? We’re celebrating?_ **

**_After he finishes his exam, our place?_ **

Hyojin sits up so quickly his head spins and then he reads the message again, a second time, and then a third, just to be sure. Then he throws his phone across the room and tumbles of bed, rifling through his closet as fast as he can and sending half of his clothes to the ground as they slip from their hangers, bolting for the door then gasping, dropping all of the clothes in his hand, and hunting down his phone wherever it had landed to send a quick thank you to Yuto before scrambling for his clothes again.

He’s ready in record time, and yet, when he rushes down the stairs out of their loft, he hears their front door open behind him, and Seungjoon calls his name.

“Hyojin!”

Hyojin turns to look over his shoulder to see Seungjoon skipping down the stairs behind him, and picks up his pace. “No!”

Seungjoon giggles at his shriek and chases him, exploding out of the door into the street only seconds after Hyojin and grabbing his arm.

“Wait,” he laughs, breathless, “wait. We might as well go together.”

“I wanted to congratulate him first!”

“I’m faster,” Seungjoon says smugly. He rolls his neck as if getting ready for a workout- “But we could race, if that’s really what you want-”

“Fine,” Hyojin grumbles. “Fine!”

They walk quickly, quick enough that Hyojin is only vaguely aware of their silence, and his own awkwardness. They haven’t spoken since their conversation in the kitchen last night, and Hyojin doesn’t know whether he should pretend as if the whole thing never happened or whether he should break the silence first. But they reach Minkyun’s school too soon, before he’s worked up the courage, and the former is the only option available as they stop, searching the faces of a flock of students trailing out of the buildings in Minkyun’s department.

“Can you see him?”

“What the hell are you two doing here?”

Hyojin jumps three feet in the air at the voice so close behind them, and they both spin on their heels to see two boys staring at them. Yuto, smiling, and Changyoon, who’d spoken, looking far more suspicious and wary.

“We thought congratulations were in order,” Seungjoon says politely.

Changyoon just keeps staring at them, but Yuto nods along, still smiling. “You’re not finished with your classes yet?”

“Not for a few weeks.”

He’d thought Minkyun was the same, but apparently the younger boy’s school year ends before Seungjoon’s, which is really going to suck, because now Hyojin and Minkyun have more free time than he does, and can spend it together as he sweats it out in a dingy practice room for a while. It’s not exactly the ideal start to his summer.

“Both of you are coming tonight?” Yuto asks, nice enough to direct the question to Hyojin, though they don’t really know each other.

“If we’re still invited,” Seungjoon answers, eyeing Changyoon.

“Of course you are.” It’s Yuto’s voice, not Changyoon’s, talking before Changyoon has the chance, smiling but not looking at his friend as Changyoon shoots him a betrayed look. “And actually, we have a lot to do before then, so-”

Changyoon frowns at him. “We do?”

Yuto nods and gestures vaguely down the street. “Yeah, we do, so we should get going.”

“Wait a second, but- hang on we-”

Yuto slings an arm over Changyoon's shoulders and starts dragging him away. “So busy!” he yells, over his shoulder, and Seungjoon laughs, returning the wave Yuto cheerfully gives him.

“See you later!” Seungjoon yells after them, and Yuto gives a thumbs up they can hardly see now as Hyojin watches the other boys leave- one far more hesitantly than the other- with a nonplussed expression that only makes Seungjoon laugh more.

“Glad I befriended one of Minkyun’s friends now?”

“Actually, I think I am.”

“You’re what?”

“Gyah!” 

Both of them leap away, Seungjoon pulling Hyojin towards him sharply, his fingertips digging into Hyojin’s forearm. Minkyun looks between them, bewildered, and they sigh, Seungjoon stepping away as Hyojin flattens a hand against his chest and feels his own rapid heartbeat against his palm.

“ _God_ , Minkyun,” he pants.

Seungjoon points half-heartedly in the direction Yuto and Changyoon had disappeared. “Do all of you do that?”

Minkyun tilts his head. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“What are you guys doing here?”

“ _Someone_ told us it was your last day,” Seungjoon says smugly, and Hyojin, beside him, nods, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“You should have told us, Kyun!”

Minkyun shakes his head desperately. “You would just make me more nervous!”

Hyojin’s mouth drops open in a scandalised expression. “We would not!”

“Yes you would! _You_ , Hyojin, _you_ specifically!”

Seungjoon’s chuckling is still breathless from their fright, and he doubles over with it as Hyojin yells, “What does that mean?”

“Jin,” he laughs, barely able to form the syllable. “Give the boy a break!” He straightens, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, cheeks slightly pink from laughing too hard, and smiles between them. “We should be celebrating.”

“Oh yeah.” Minkyun glances around, narrowing his eyes to squint at the crowds. “Have you saw Changyoon?”

“And Yuto, but both of them said they were dreadfully busy,” Seungjoon replies, nodding sympathetically.

“So I guess that means you’re stuck with us, instead,” Hyojin finishes.

Minkyun breathes a huge sigh and looks up at the sky. “What did I do to deserve this?” he asks, and Hyojin pokes him in the side, making him squirm. Seungjoon catches him around the neck with one arm and ruffles his hair- Minkyun screams so loud a few students look their way, alarmed, but then laughs just as loud.

“Brat,” Hyojin says fondly, as Minkyun finally wrestles out of Seungjoon’s grasp.

“Alright, alright.” Minkyun flattens his hair distractedly, grinning ear to ear. “Actually, um, we were all going to celebrate, later, just at our apartment, so, I mean if neither of you are busy-”

“We’ve already been invited,” Hyojin says, leaning closer as if spilling a secret.

“You have?” Minkyun narrows his eyes. “By who?”

“Yuto,” Seungjoon says.

“Oh.” Minkyun shuffles his feet, looking down at the asphalt. Seungjoon and Hyojin exchange a quick glance, uncertain of his reaction to the name, wearing matching frowns they smother as soon as his eyes lift from the ground.

“What should we do until then?”

Minkyun hums thoughtfully, and before he can say anything, Hyojin offers, “You must be hungry.”

Minkyun giggles. “Do you ever think about anything except whether I’m fed enough?”

“Rarely,” Hyojin says, mostly joking. “What do you want?”

Patting his stomach, Minkyun considers his options, a line between his brows forming as he frowns in concentration. “Ice cream,” he decides.

Hyojin glares at him. “Ice cream is _not_ a-”

“He wants ice cream!” Seungjoon cries, raising both arms exasperatedly. “We’re getting ice cream.”

“But-”

“People too boring for celebratory ice cream parties will be left on the sidewalk,” Seungjoon announces, speaking through his hands, his voice echoey. Hyojin scuffs the back of his head, but follows them as Minkyun starts skipping gleefully away from school.

There’s a shop a few blocks away with a huge enamel sign of an ice cream cone, and as soon as it comes into sight Minkyun is whooping like a kid on christmas, and racing ahead of them. Seungjoon chuckles as Hyojin shakes his head, and when he looks over at him, Hyojin’s stomach flips, realising with Minkyun rushing ahead of them, it’s just him and Seungjoon side by side, and Seungjoon’s smiling at him in a way that makes him nervous. For a second, it seems like he’s going to say something, but then he just reaches out, and hooks a finger under the bandanna tied around Hyojin’s wrist, tugging him along. Hyojin freezes, but Seungjoon thinks he’s playing, so he just tugs harder, and Hyojin, on autopilot, lets himself be pulled along, in a daze, until they get to the store front and find Minkyun with his face pressed to the glass, looking down at the fridge full of assorted ice cream flavours below him.

“What’s the verdict?” Seungjoon asks him, already patting down his pockets.

“On no, no, no,” Hyojin says. “If I’m being dragged out for ice cream you’re at least letting me pay for it.”

Minkyun’s already shaking his head. “But, I-”

“Why do _you_ get to pay for it?” Seungjoon demands.

“I have a job!”

Proudly, Seungjoon flattens a palm against his chest and says: “Student loan.”

From the way Hyojin rolls his eyes, it’s clear this is a conversation they’ve had before. “That money isn’t actually _yours,_ Joon.”

“Well, not _technically_ ,-”

The bell above the door chimes as Minkyun shoves past them.

“Wh-Hey!”

“No fair!”

“My treat,” Minkyun sings to them both, a smug smile on his face as he reaches the counter first.

“Why would it be _your_ treat, Kyun, it’s _you_ we're supposed to be celebrating.”

Minkyun grins and turns to give the boy behind the counter his order, then when he sees Seungjoon still waiting on an answer, he shrugs. “Someone told me you have something to celebrate too.”

Seungjoon’s mouth drops open, surprised, and then he turns narrowed eyes on Hyojin. “ _Someone,_ huh?”

Hyojin holds his hands up in surrender, and Minkyun says, “Actually, I meant Yuto.”

“How does he _know_ everything?”

“We do live together,” Minkyun reasons.

Seungjoon and Hyojin exchange a glance, and the way Seungjoon's lips are tugging upwards into a grin makes it clear he's picked up on the same thing behind Minkyun's words as Hyojin has, who looks back to see Minkyun looking nervous, and smiles.

“So...you’ve talked about us to your loftmates?”

“I..." he looks away, avoiding their gazes. "Maybe...maybe a little.”

Seungjoon asks, “What did you tell them?”

Minkyun frowns in a way that makes him look like a turtle, just one of his wide smiles inverted, and mutters, “Nothing important.”

Unconvinced, Hyojin crosses his arms. “You’re bright red, Minkyun.”

“Just order your ice cream!”

Seungjoon chuckles and slides up to the counter, ordering for both of them, leaving Hyojin to raise a brow and study Minkyun’s expression.

“Stop that,” Minkyun whines, hiding behind his hands, and Seungjoon comes back and lowers them for him, laughing without opening his mouth.

“Celebratory ice creams are on their way,” he announces, to change the subject. “My treat,” he adds smugly, and both of them realise they’d left him alone at the counter and groan in defeat.

“Fine,” Hyojin sighs. “You win.”

Hyojin and Minkyun grab their little plastic tubs from the counter, and Seungjoon accepts the ice cream cone from the boy behind the counter who looks very glad to be getting them out of his store, and they find a bench outside a restaurant still closed at the early hour.

The first bite has Hyojin very aware of the fact that he’d forgotten to grab a jacket in his mad dash out of the loft that morning. He’s shivering very obviously by the second.

Minkyun sets his ice cream tub on the table and shrugs out of his blazer, the same one he’d worn like a blanket when they’d snuck him into the cinema.

“Here.” He leans over the table and slings it around Hyojin’s shoulders before the older boy can protest, and sits back looking very smug as Seungjoon coos at him.

“But now _you’ll_ be cold,” Hyojin points out, eyeing the thin fabric of Minkyun’s sweater and regretting the idea to sit in the shade.

“Here, one sec.” Seungjoon bites down on what remains of his ice cream cone to free his hands and shuffles out of his jacket. He passes it to Minkyun, who’s giggling too much to refuse, and Hyojin rolls his eyes at them both.

“You’re both ridiculous.”

Minkyun just giggles again as he pulls on Seungjoon’s jacket. It’s the dark leather one Seungjoon’s rarely seen without, and looks far less ridiculous on Minkyun than Minkyun’s blazer does on Hyojin, who suddenly feels very, very small and like he’s swimming in tweed.

“Not like I’m not enjoying the company,” Minkyun starts, shyly, and both of them laugh at him, “but where’s Jay?”

Seungjoon groans and dramatically slides his arm out across the table, resting his head on it and sighing. “He likes the cat more than us, Hyojin.” 

“I like the cat more than you, too, Seungjoon,” Hyojin smiles, and earns another comical sigh. “But Jay’s at our loft. Probably bullying Jaeyoung into feeding him.”

“ _Probably_?”

“He’s fine, Minkyun, you said it’d be fine by itself for a while-”

“Not all the time!”

Hyojin drops his empty ice cream tub onto the table with a scoff. “You just want to see Jay, don’t you?”

“...Maybe.”

Though Seungjoon teases him for a while, about liking the kitten more than them- something Minkyun denies with increasing enthusiasm- they relent, and let him choose how to spend the day before the party, which turns out to be the two of them sprawling over a sofa each as he chases Jay around their loft, screeching and laughing and eventually getting even Seungjoon to join in.

Hyojin lets himself forget about worrying, for a while. He gives up on trying to chose, just laughs at Minkyun rushing around the living room like a madman, play fights with Seungjoon. A few hours pass by as they talk about nothing, pointless talking for the sake of talking, and then Minkyun’s saying his goodbyes, after a few insistent texts from Changyoon. The loft instantly feels empty without him, but as soon as they’ve changed, they’re out the door too, speeding across the city in a taxi with Jaeyoung, who’d been invited on the spot when Minkyun had bumped into him in the hallway, streetlights flickering to life as they pass.


	15. Celebrations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> based on this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkBdwsfI7rg

Hyojin tugs at the cuffs of his shirt as the elevator doors slide shut, trapping the three of them in the lift as it starts to rise. He’d spent what felt like hours trying to chose something to wear, but even then he hadn’t realised the red plaid shirt he’d thrown over his t-shirt actually belongs to Seungjoon until they’d met in the hallway, and Seungjoon had eyed him, smirking as he turned away. Hyojin had found a bright scarlet blazer to go over it, even though he wasn’t cold, feeling the need to cover it up, but as soon as Changyoon lets them into their apartment, he’s shrugging out of it, too warm in the small living room, rolling the shirt sleeves up to his elbows and stubbornly avoiding Seungjoon’s eye.

“You made it!”

Yuto and Minkyun are stepping out of what must be a kitchen toward them, both holding drinks, and Yuto, the speaker, is quick to ask if he can get them anything, too.

Seungjoon narrows his eyes, gaze dropping to the glass Minkyun is clutching, but he doesn’t mention it, just gives the orders to Yuto, who disappears back into the room he’d just come from with a nod.

Changyoon, who’s got his own near-empty glass in his hand, seems more open to their presence than he’d ever been, almost definitely due to the drink. His cheeks are already rosy with it as he waves them over, and they see that the living room has been arranged already, the furniture shoved backward to make room for a circle of cushions on the floor, around a coffee table. Changyoon drops onto one of the cushions, and they follow suit, Hyojin sitting beside him, and Seungjoon sitting one cushion away, leaving a space for Minkyun between them. Jaeyoung takes the seat on Changyoon’s other side and glances around the room.

“Looks like you’ve started celebrating already,” he notes.

“Well, it’s a very special day, isn’t it?” Changyoon asks. Now he’s decided to be less wary around them, he’s all cheeky smiles and energy.

“It's not like I've graduated, Yoon,” Minkyun sighs. “You just wanted an excuse to drink.”

The way he says it isn’t unkind, a knowing kind of amusement lightening the statement, and Changyoon blows him a kiss and drains his glass. As Yuto reemerges from the kitchen, passing out drinks, Minkyun takes the spot between Hyojin and Seungjoon, pulling his legs up to his chest shyly.

Seungjoon knocks back whatever it is that he’d requested from Yuto and feels it burn the back of his throat. Oh. He’d asked for tequila. Might not have been a wise decision. He spots Minkyun watching him from the corner of his eye, noticing his reaction to the drink, no doubt thinking the same thing Seungjoon had been when he’d seen Minkyun with his own glass. That’s a conversation for later.

Hyojin sips more delicately from his glass and then sets it down on the coffee table in front of him. “Is there anything you wanted to do, or are we freestyling?”

He’d directed the question to Minkyun, who looks around the circle at his friends, who shrug.

“Actually-”

Changyoon cuts himself off and gets up out of the circle, and their eyes all follow him as he slips from the room, without explanation, coming back with a little box tied with red ribbon.

“I know we said no gifts,” he says, just as Minkyun starts to whine at him, “but it’s more like a game. I thought it’d be fun.”

He passes Minkyun the box, who accepts it with a thanks and a huge, wide grin despite his protesting. He shakes it, cutely, by his ear, listening for the thing rattling inside him, and Seungjoon and Hyojin both laugh at him at the same time, meeting each other’s eyes over Minkyun’s head as the younger boy sets the box on the floor in front of him and starts fiddling with the ribbon.

It takes him a moment to untie the knot enough to pull it off, but then he’s lifting the lid slowly, peering inside, and then setting the top of the box down and reaching inside. His hand emerges clutching white, fluffy ears attached to a headband, and he’s already grinning as he looks at Changyoon for an explanation.

“Game?” he asks.

Changyoon nods, gesturing at the box with one hand. “There’s a sheet.”

Hyojin swipes something out of the box, a little paper leaflet he squints down at, before he starts laughing.

“Nekomimi ears,” he reads through a grin, “react to brainwaves.”

Minkyun gives a little surprised squeak and snatches the paper. Seungjoon, laughing, gently takes the ears from his loose grip. Hyojin, behind Minkyun’s back, gestures wildly for Seungjoon’s attention, and then makes a motion with both hands of putting on a crown, pointing to the headband.

Seunjoon chuckles, and feels Minkyun still when he pushes a lock of caramel-coloured hair out of the younger boy’s eyes and settles the hairband on his head. Seungjoon attaches the little clip hanging from the band onto Minkyun’s ear, and Jaeyoung claps happily. The rest of them giggle, as Minkyun looks up as if trying to see the ears now sitting atop his hair.

“Where on earth did you get those things?” Jaeyoung asks, and Changyoon chuckles, throwing a chocolate into the air and catching it in his mouth.

“One of my friends from the engineering department introduced me to them. I thought Minkyun would appreciate them.”

“What’s the game?” Yuto asks, meowing when Minkyun’s eyes find him across the circle, laughing at the way Minkyun keeps angling his head, adjusting to the headband.

“Good old fashioned truth or dare,” Changyoon says. “But without the dare part.”

The ears on top of Minkun’s head suddenly turn sharply, and he startles at the movement. Hyojin picks the booklet back up, and bursts into laughter.

“That means he’s nervous!”

Seungjoon coos, tickling under Minkyun’s chin. The younger boy blushes, and bats his hand away.

“He should be,” Yuto says. “There’s a reason we don’t play that game with Changyoon anymore.”

Changyoon, grinning at the way all of their eyes swivel to him, rubs his hands together and leans forward.

“Hang on a minute, wait, wait,” Minkyun stutters, holding a hand in the air to stop them talking over him. “Is it fair I’m the only one getting the questions?”

“We’ll pass the ears around after a few questions,” Seungjoon assures him, patting his knee comfortingly.

“Yeah,” Hyojin agrees. “You don’t think I’m passing up the opportunity to embarrass Seungjoon in front of all of you, do you?”

Minkyun laughs a little nervously, one of the ears twitching with a sharp motion. Hyojin clutches his heart exaggeratedly at the cuteness, almost falling backwards, and Minkyun shoves him.

“How are we doing this? Free for all?”

Changyoon, the mastermind, shrugs and nods at the same time, gesturing vaguely towards Minkyun, who swallows, crossing his legs under him.

“Please go easy on me,” he says quietly, half laughing. “It’s me we’re celebrating, remember?”

Yuto nods- the only one in the room to do so- and holds his pinky in the air like he’s giving Minkyun a long-distance pinky promise.

“I won’t let Changyoon be too mean,” he reassures. Then his eyes flicker to the boys on either side of Minkyun. “Can’t make any promises for the others, though.”

Jaeyoung, thankfully, decides to be merciful, and holds up one hand.

“I’ll go first,” he says, and then, dropping his hand, furrows his brows in concentration. The ears flatten against Minkyun’s ears again, and he laughs, before sitting straighter. “OK, I’ve got one: I, Park Minkyun, think Lee Changyoon is my nicest friend.”

The ears twitch, upwards this time, and Hyojin, squinting for a moment at the booklet, scoffs and stares wide-mouthed at Minkyun. 

“ _Nicest?”_ Yuto screeches.

“ _No_ ,” Changyoon says.

“Are we sure these things work?” Yuto takes the booklet from Hyojin, who doesn’t resist, still staring at Minkyun, who’s started giggling nervously.

“Cats,” Seungjoon says suddenly, and then when Minkyun turns to frown at him starts chanting it. “Cats, cats, cats, cats.”

The ears turn and lift, pointing straight up at the ceiling, and Minkyun presses his lips together, adorably embarrassed as the circle descends into loud laughter, Hyojin falling onto his back with his hands again clutched over his heart, Seungjoon holding his sides. 

“Definitely work,” Chayoong says, his voice breathy and amused with the laughter still pulling his lips into a smile. 

Minkyun covers his face with his hands, only for a moment, patches of pink high on his cheeks.

“OK, I have a question,” Yuto says, shuffling forward slightly. “Let’s say one of us had some trouble and needed to borrow, like...I don’t know, a substantial amount of money. Like three months wages. Would you give it to us?”

Minkyun thinks about it, his eyes lifting to stare at the ceiling. “Which one of you?”

Yoto shrugs. “Any of us.”

“Sure,” Minkyun nods. They all wait for a reaction, but the ears don’t move.

“Changyoon,” Yuto corrects. The ears twist.

“What the hell, Min!”

“I’m sorry!” Minkyun whines. “I just don’t know what you’d use it on! And you might not pay me back-”

“I thought you said I was your nicest friend!” Changyoon yells.

“I didn’t say you were the most responsible!”

Changyoon laughs, like he knows Minkyun’s being reasonable, and then stops. “Wait, are we sure that’s just not his reaction to hearing my name?” 

Minkyun laughs, and Changyoon lurches forward, almost lying on his stomach, yelling his own name. 

“Changyoon! Changyoon!”

Minkyun dissolves into giggles, swaying, tucking his chin so they can’t see his face, and the ears turn up happily.

Changyoon, grinning, slides back into his place in the circle. 

“I’m on to you,” he says, pointing at Minkyun, who bats his eyelashes at him innocently.

Out of his peripheral, Seunjoon sees Hyojin put his glass down. The red haired boy clears his throat.

“My go,” he says. “I’ve got one.” Seungjoon isn’t sure whether the entire room tenses, or just him. Regardless, it feels like all of the air has been taken out of their little circle as they wait for his question. 

Hyojin rests his elbow on his knee, putting his chin in his hand. He hums, and Minkyun squirms, definitely just as nervous as Seungjoon is for the question.

Then Hyojin says, “I like Jay more than Hyojin and Seungjoon.”

Minkyun barks a laugh. Seungjoon peers closer to see the reaction, but the ears don’t move as Minkyun yelps, “Of course not!”

“What if he’s just lying?” Seungjoon asks Hyojin, sounding a little like a cop in a television show, investigating, and Minkyun shakes his head, waving his hands through the air.

“I’m not.” The ears flatten, and Seungjoon gasps, sitting straighter. 

Hyojin consults the pamphlet and sighs in relief. “That just means he’s relaxed.”

“Huh. I guess that means you’re not lying.” Minkyun sticks his tongue out at him, and he laughs. “You’re off the hook, then. For now.”

Alarmed, Minkyun looks at Changyoon on the other side of the circle. “Can it be someone else’s go now before Seungjoon gets a question?”

“Absolutely not,” Seungjoon smirks. “Let me think.”

He leans back on his hands, enjoying the way Minkyun focuses on him, feeling another pair of eyes eyeing him, too. 

“OK. I...think I’m the best looking person in this room.”

Changyoon yells excitedly and Jaeyoung drumrolls the floorboards below him, making a ruckus, as Yuto laughs somewhat sympathetically at Minkyun’s stricken expression. The ears have started rotating in every direction, as mobile as they’ve ever been, and Hyojin is frowning down at the booklet, confused as to what it means.

“No,” Minkyun mumbles.

Seungjoon puts a hand to his ear as if he hadn’t heard. “What was that?”

“No!”

“Then who does he think it is?” Jaeyoung asks.

Minkyun shakes his head. “No, no, my goes over! Next person!”

He scrambles to take the headband off as they laugh at him, pouting, and Hyojin reaches to unclip the contraption from his ear and then realises his mistake as Minkyun thrusts the headband at him, too.

“What?”

“Your turn.”

“But I-”

Jaeyoung boos him loudly. “Put it on, coward.”

Hyojin glares at him but lets Minkyun attach the clip to his ear. As soon as the headband is in place atop the crimson curls of his hair, the ears start swivelling in opposite directions. Seungjoon whistles as if he's impressed.

“Is it supposed to be doing that?” Changyoon asks, and snatches the booklet.

“You really are just a bundle of anxiety, aren’t you?” Jaeyoung wonders, as Hyojin hesitantly reaches for the ears, trying to figure out what they’re doing.

“Hey wait,” Jaeyoung says, smiling as an idea comes to him. “Put them on Seungjoon.”

“What?” Seungjoon blinks at him, looking betrayed. “Why is it suddenly my go?”

“I just want to see the difference.”

Hyojin doesn’t protest, and Minkyun helps place the headset on Seungjoon, this time, who inclines his head towards him helpfully, smirking. The ears flatten so drastically they sit perfectly horizontal in his hair, and don’t move.

“That’s not fair!” Hyojin yelps.

“How are you two even friends with each other?” Yuto asks, perplexed, and Changyoon nods as if he’d been thinking the same thing.

“Maybe you balance each other out,” Minkyun offers.

Jaeyoung scoffs and shakes his head. “Oh, no, they’re definitely worse when they’re together.”

One of the ears twitch suddenly on top of Seungjoon’s head in a clearly irritated manor, and Jaeyoung giggles behind his hand.

Yuto suddenly raises his hand. “I’ve got something.” They gesture at him to continue, and Seungjoon leans forward, smirking. Though he draws back, looking a little concerned, Yuto says: “I think I’m a better dancer than Yuto.”

Seungjoon’s already shaking his head as they ooh and aah at the question, and irritatingly the ears make no reaction as he denies it. At least, an hour or two later, when Changyoon is finally the one with the headset, and they’d burned through far too many bottles of liquor between them, Hyojin finds he isn’t the only one in the group who’s not as put together. The ears are perhaps even more frantic when they’re on Changyoon’s head, and they all find out pretty quickly how much of a mess he is, and how hilarious, despite his first impression.

“My friends like you a lot,” Minkyun smiles at Hyojin, then Seungjoon, as Yuto and Changyoon are in the kitchen fetching more snacks. The words settle warmly in Hyojin’s stomach, making him giddier than he already is, and Seungjoon seems just as pleased.

“Good,” Hyojin sighs, flopping onto his back, one arm under his head. “I like them too.”

There’s more food, and more drinks, after that, and an impromptu talent show they only agree to because of how insistent Minkyun is, and none of them seem to be able to deny him anything. Hyojin finds that Changyoon’s quite the singer, too, even though he’s not really trying, more focussed on making Minkyun laugh than sounding good, and they even pull Jaeyoung into freestyle rapping for them, with Minkyun as the topic, even though they’d technically only spoken for the first time a few hours ago.

By the end of the night, when they’re all beginning to tire- all of them except Minkyun, who still seems full of his usual endless energy- Hyojin finds himself curled against Seungjoon’s side, Minkyun’s head in his lap, gently carding his fingers through caramel-coloured hair. Seungjoon’s arm is around him, his hand resting lightly on his waist, and he’s finding it very hard to concentrate, though he’d drunk far less than the others in the circle. Jaeyoung is already snoozing on the sofa against the wall, and Yuto and Changyoon have their heads together, muttering and laughing about something he can’t hear.

Minkyun’s looking up at him, smiling, when Hyojin glances down.

“Good night?”

Minkyun nods slowly, with a happy sigh. Seungjoon clears his throat beside them.

“You know,” he starts, and both of them look at him at the strange note to his voice. “We never got the tour.”

Minkyun frowns, not understanding, and Seungjoon grins, setting his glass down and standing, dusting off his jeans. He holds out a hand, and Minkyun takes it hesitantly, letting himself be pulled to his feet. 

“Come on,” Seungjoon tells them both, eyes on Hyojin below him. Hyojin, who'd thought for a moment that he was being left behind, scrambles to his feet and follows them, noticing as he stands that Seungjoon hasn’t dropped Minkyun’s hand.


	16. Win

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> based on this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkBdwsfI7rg

“Where’s your room?” Seungjoon asks, and Minkyun shyly directs them to a closed door on the second floor, pushing inside and settling on the edge of his bed as Hyojin lingers in the doorway.

It's a box of a room, four close walls leaving just enough space for a bed against one wall and a desk against the other, mirrored closet doors tacked with polaroids of Changyoon and Yuto and a few people Hyojin doesn't know and, of course, Minkyun's pets. The walls are the usual unpainted-cream of rented apartments, but Minkyun leans back and reaches behind the bed for a lightswitch, and the string of star-shaped lights he'd strung up above his bed light up and bathe the room in a soft blue.

“What are we doing?”

Seungjoon just shrugs easily, taking a seat in Minkyun’s desk chair. “Talking.”

Minkyun, looking relieved, asks: “About?”

“You told me you didn’t drink.”

For a moment, Minkyun looks guilty, but then he smiles, the charming, slow grin Hyojin remembers from the first time they’d seen him in the bar, on stage, when he’s seemed like an entirely different person. “You told me you didn’t drink, either,” he counters. 

“Why’d you lie?”

“I…” Minkyun trails off, trying to find the words, and Hyojin shuts the door behind him and steps further into the room, leaning against the wall by the desk. “I didn’t know what your intentions were.”

“You didn’t trust me?” Seungjoon aks, not sounding as offended as he could by the idea.

“You did both come out of nowhere,” Minkyun reasons. “You just kept appearing, around me, and acting so nice, and...well, one of you is pretty intimidating, at first, and-”

Hyojin hits Seungjoon lightly on the back of the head. “You scared him,” he scolds, and Minkyun clears his throat.

“Actually, I was kind of talking about you, Hyojin.”

Seungjoon throws his head back, laughing, and all Hyojin can do is blink owlishly as Minkyun smiles at him apologetically.

“ _Me?”_

“You’re scary! Seungjoon’s always smiling, but I can never tell what you’re thinking!”

Hyojin’s mouth drops open. Maybe he’d been wrong about what Minkyun thought about them both.

“So you lied cause you wanted to keep your guard up?” Seungjoon’s asking. “Why did you not just tell us to get lost?”

“Um, well, at first, I just wanted to know what you wanted from me, but..then...well...” he shrugs, trying to be casual about cutting off his thought before he could voice it. “I told Yuto and Changyoon the wrong time for Hyojin’s performance at the bar so I could be alone with the two of you, so I could see what you’d do-”

Hyojin gapes at him. “You’ve been playing us this whole time?”

Seungjoon waves an arm through the air, quietening him. “What do you think we want from you?” he asks, more calmly.

Minkyun puts. “I’m not sure anymore,” he admits. “I didn’t want to drink with you because you kind of seemed like those couples who just wanted to fool around-”

Hyojin almost spits the mouthful he’d just taken from his glass across the room. “ _Couple_?” he wheezes, as Seungjoon hits him a few times on the back, concerned.

“You can’t blame me, can you?” Minkyun practically cries. “You're always together! And the way you both _talk_ about each other!”

“We weren’t just trying to fool around,” Seungjoon says, smoothly avoiding the implication behind Minkyun's words. “But I guess we can’t blame you for lying to us.”

Somehow it comes out, the whole story, and Minkyun listens patiently as they speak about the day they’d spotted him, how none of it was a coincidence, the times they'd 'ran into' him afterwards, even laughing at Seungjoon’s scowl when he’d recounted how Hyojin had pretended to be behind the drink he’d left at Minkyun’s school desk.

“Why me?” is the first thing Minkyun asks, startling them both for a moment, before Hyojin recovers some of his sense.

“Because Seungjoon liked you. I...didn’t expect we’d have so much in common, though.”

Minkyun nods as if this makes sense, and Hyojin peers cautiously at his expression, perplexed. “You don’t... seem angry.”

Minkyun shrugs. “I don’t think I am. Honestly, it’s just a relief to finally know why you’ve both been acting the way you have been. You were both trying a lot harder than I thought you would to make me like you both, so-”

Hyojin groans and tears at his hair. “I can’t believe you _told_ him,” he whines. “This does _not_ make us look good.”

“No,” Minkyun admits, giggling, “but it’s better than what Changyoon thought you were doing.”

“He thought we were a couple too?” Seungjoon asks, eyes wide, and Minkyun nods.

 _Well, that explains why Changyoon had been so weird around us_ , Seungjoon thinks. He looks over his shoulder, but Hyojin won’t meet his eye. He’s flushed, not from the alcohol, a light pink colouring his cheeks, travelling down his neck.

There’s a quiet moment as the reality of what they’ve been talking about settles over them all. Seungjoon clears his throat, awkwardly, making the other two jump, and then laughs softly, dislodging some of the tension, until he gets to his feet and walks closer to Minkyun on the bed.

“Hey-”

Hyojin’s warning halts as he sees Seungjoon reach for the headset Minkyun had been wearing loosely around his neck, fixing it in place again and then stepping away. Minkyun looks up at him, head tilted in confusion, and he smirks.

“Let’s have a game of our own,” he says.

Minkyun gulps, but doesn’t say anything. The ears twitch anxiously on top of his head.

“What kind of game?” Hyojin asks.

“A game to clear the air,” Seungjoon answers, taking a seat again and crossing one leg over the other knee. Hyojin wishes simaultaneously that he'd drank less and drank more, because he doesn't feel prepared for this, and somehow Seungjoon seems to have sobered up completely and is acting far too relaxed for their situation. “I’ll start. How about...I’m not mad at Seungjoon or Hyojin for the stupid bet they made.”

"No." Minkyun blinks back at him, determined, and the ears flatten out into a relaxed position against his hair.

“Huh,” Seungjoon says, as if he hadn’t quite believed it until now.

“I want to go,” Hyojin says, swigging the remains of his drink for courage. “I want Seungjoon to win.”

Minkyun frowns. He glances up, as if uncertain of his own answer, wanting to see what reaction the ears have to the question. They twist, in opposite directions, and Seungjoon hums thoughtfully.

“I want Hyojin to win,” he says, and receives the same reaction.

Hyojin studies every inch of his face, searching for an answer in his expression. “Kyun?”

“I...I don’t know,” Minkyun says, looking down at his hands.

“It seems like you do,” Seungjoon says. Hyojin looks down at him to see a sly smirk on his lips, and wonders at how he can be amused when Hyojin’s stomach is full of ravenous, crazed butterflies.

Minkyun twiddles his thumbs. “What would...what does _winning_ entail?”

“We bet on a kiss,” Seungjoon explains easily.

Minkyun flushes.

Seungjoon chuckles. Despite his nervousness, Hyojin can’t help but giggle, too.

“I don’t like being the only one playing this game,” Minkyun complains.

Seungjoon spreads his arms out. “Go on, then,” he says, and Minkyun hesitates. He unclips the headset and stands, uncertain of who to go to, but Seungjoon smiles up at him, reassuring, and he chooses him.

“What do you want to know?” Seungjoon asks, as Minkyun steps back.

The answers there without having to think about it. He’d been wondering what had happened in the bar, when Seungjoon had suddenly pulled away from him, and now he thinks he’s starting to understand why.

“I want to win the game,” he says.

Hyojin circles around the chair so he can see Seungjoon’s expression.

It’s calm, as he says, “Of course.” The ears are flat and motionless.

“I want Hyojin to win,” Minkyun says.

“Also yes.”

Minkyun and Hyojin exchange a nervous glance. Seungjoon grins up at them both.

“I think Hyojin should go now,” he lilts.

Hyojin fiddles with the bandanna at his wrist as both of them look towards him. “Do I have to?”

“You look nervous,” Minkyun says softly.

“I _am_ nervous.”

Seungjoon tips his head to the side, trying to see his expression. “Why?”

“I don’t know what to think.”

“Then let me do the thinking,” Seungjoon says, setting the headset down on Minkyun’s desk and standing. “I think...that you want the same things I do.”

Hyojin’s eyes flicker between his. “What’s that?”

“You want to win, and you want me to win, too.”

Hyojin shakes his head. “How can we both win?”

“This is why you’ve been so down recently, isn’t it?” Minkyun asks, so gentle Minkyun barely hears him. “Because you didn’t know what to choose. _Who_ to choose.”

Hyojin realises at some point Minkyun had reached for him, holding Hyojin’s index finger in all of his, swinging his hand slowly between them. He swallows thickly.

“Who says we have to choose, Jin?” Seungjoon asks.

Hyojin scoffs sadly. The thing that'd been eating at him for so long immediately changes now that Seungjoon's aware of it, because Seungjoon's far less decisive, and it had taken him longer to see it, but he's so much braver than Hyojin is.“Can it really be that easy?”

“If you want it to be.”

He looks at Minkyun, who nods, smiling, even though he looks nervous, too.

“Well...how do we figure out who wins now?” 

They laugh, surprised at the question, and Seungjoon taps his lip as if in deep thought.

“How about this,” he says, after a moment.

Hyojin jolts as a hand suddenly grabs his shirt and pulls him forward- he doesn’t even have time to comprehend what’s going on before soft lips are on his, Seungjoon’s hand on the small of his back, pressing him closer. He freezes, hearing Seungjoon chuckle quietly, and the kiss ends too quickly, Hyojin chasing after Seungjoon as the younger boy pulls away, feeling a tug on his sleeve.

“I feel left out,” Minkyun says, a pace or two away now, mostly joking, making them both giggle self-consciously.

“Then get over here,” Hyojin tells him, as they both grab one of Minkyun’s arms and tug. The younger boy laughs and lets himself be pulled toward them, feeling Seungjoon wrap an arm around his waist as they both peck his cheeks. He giggles, grinning so wide it almost hurts, and then Hyojin’s hand is turning his face toward his.


End file.
